Bloodbound
by Galdr
Summary: This story's rewrite is called Uchū no Hanten. Thank you for the support for this story, though!
1. Decrescendo

**AN:** Hope you enjoy this! Let's see how far this gets accepted.

Disclaimer: I'm sure I don't own Naruto. Long live Masashi Kishimoto!

Warnings: Time travel/dimension travelling (hopefully the method I'm using isn't cliché'd), swearing and oh this is so an AU because why follow the canon stuff? Some things are from the manga, so spoiler warning here! You were forewarned, yo. Follows canonical storyline a little in this first chapter then second sways over to the AU part.

Also, thanks to my only reviewer from my "And Then There Were Two" fic that corrected me about Shisui's and Obito's ages. Haha...um. Still new to the Narutodom. The dated years and such are made up. So, don't kill me, please. Chapter titles are named after musical terms because I'm a music nerd. Shoot me.

There's been a couple, minor changes to this chapter, so it flows much better.

* * *

Decrescendo

1

* * *

Saturday, September 23, Year 419 NE (Ninja Era)

From inside the office within the Hokage Tower, a young man that was nineteen years old stood proudly. He was looking out the large windows, watching his village with careful, cerulean blue eyes. He was at peace, finally. The Hokage Monument had the previous Hokage's faces upon it; the Shodaime, Senju Hashirama, the Nidaime, Senju Tobirama, the Sandaime, "jiji" as he had affectionately called him but better known as Sarutobi Hiruzen, his father, the Yondaime Namikaze Minato, obaachan Senju Tsunade and lastly himself, the Rokudaime Uzumaki Naruto. Soon, there would be a Nandaime.

With everything that had happened over the last six years of his life, the peace that the Elemental Nations were in was well deserved. The other Kages and their villages were all in good terms with another; no malice between the other, however a few skirmishes of bandits here and there still occurred. From the horrible experience of the Wave mission to the corrupted Akatsuki, Uchiha Madara's insane plans and the battle and promise of Otsutsuki Kaguya, it was all worth it. Many sacrifices had to be made to get to this point, but with the help of his friends, his precious teammates, he was able to accomplish the impossible.

He may not be wearing the Hokage robes at the moment, namely because he didn't want to—he didn't like the colors, now that he thought about it, but he'd _never_ tell anyone that except his wife—however, he donned his specially made coat. It was a cream colored long coat with sleeve, with the kanji "Rokudaime Hokage" imprinted on the back in dark red. He also had the kanji for "Nine" underneath that, symbolic for what he was: a Jinchuriki. Underneath, he wore the standard jonin green vest, his former Konoha hitai-ate stitched to the left side of said vest, a deep orange-red shirt and black pants. Matching black half gloves and zori were adorning his hands and feet respectively. His current hitai-ate had the kanji for "Shinobi" upon it, reminding him of his and his friends' struggles through the extreme battle of the Fourth Shinobi War.

His spiky blond hair grew out over the years, and he had to keep it maintained to some degree, lest his wife of one year reprimand him for it. His tan skin was still as it was, with his three whisker-like birthmarks upon each side of his cheeks. Since he was older from three years ago, his normally round eyes slanted a little more, and while he had to maintain his hair, the sides grew out and cupped around his face, both traits being reminiscent of the late Fourth Hokage.

While it seemed like he was simply idling the time away, he was in fact waiting for a few individuals to come. He had sent out a messenger hawk to summon them. He hoped he wouldn't have to wait too long. Some force within him was drawing him to stop moving, to drop down dead and become a statue. Stubbornly, he forced it down, wanting to prolong what was to come for him. He knew he wasn't going to like what he would say to them when they arrived, and he knew they wouldn't like it, either. But, it was inevitably happening, and leaving without telling anyone his fate would be less than pleasing.

Thankfully, he didn't have to wait for long. He sensed the familiar chakra signatures outside the door. With a strong voice, he simply said, "Enter."

Opening the door was an older man, most likely in his thirties, with silver hair in an peculiar gravity defying style, garbed in the standard jonin attire but had his face covered. Normally his hitai-ate would have been covering his left eye out of habit, but this time, it wasn't. He also would have a typical book and reading it about now, but again, he wasn't. His dark grey eyes, both of them, settled on the young man behind the desk, staring out the window passionately.

The next person to enter was a young woman, nineteen herself, with pink hair and green eyes. She, as well, also wore the standard jonin attire, her hitai-ate worn in her hair instead of around her forehead as most would.

Next to her was another young woman, the same age as the other kunoichi, with midnight blue hair trailing down to her backside. Very similarly dressed to the other female, but instead her hitai-ate was worn around her neck, and her pale white eyes found themselves on the young man as well. She closed the door behind her after she entered.

Another young man within the same age group as the previous duo shunshin'd inside. He was dressed in ANBU gear, complete with the mask. It was a snake mask he wore. His dark hair was visible, in a strange, gravity defying way much like the first male's hair. His sword was sheathed and strapped to his backside. He is the captain of the ANBU corps of Konoha.

Good. They were here, and now, he could inform them of the grave news he'd been keeping to himself for a long time.

* * *

"Hokage-sama," all four said, bowing respectively.

"Rise, it's all right." The Rokudaime said as he turned around to face the four in the room. He went towards the desk and activated the privacy seals throughout the room. Once done, the four stood up, curious.

"I understand you all are wondering about why I summoned you here." A collection of acknowledgment met him and he continued, "I'll get straight to the point since there isn't a reason to sugar coat this; I'm dying."

Their reactions were quick.

"What?!" the pink-haired female was the first to speak up, rather loudly.

The silver-haired ninja eyed the blond, narrowing them. He was upset that his former student was telling them this at the last minute. The second female gasped, straining herself from not shedding tears while the ANBU captain stiffened but was equally shocked.

"How? Pardon for my abrasiveness, but Hokage-sama, if you had a terrible illness—!" the first kunoichi began again but was stopped.

"Sakura," he said, his sharp tone silencing her at the moment to get her attention, "there wasn't much you or Tsunade-sama could do about it. It's not an illness." He focused on the rest of them. "It's what happens when a bijuu is extracted from its host; the host dies."

"Was Kurama...?" the silver-haired jonin started but the Rokudaime shook his head.

"No. It was when I separated the remaining bijuu from my person three years ago, similarly how Otsutsuki Hagoromo did." He paused, his audience hanging on every word as he spoke. "It wasn't long when I started noticing strange symptoms happening to me a few months after the self extraction of releasing the tailed beasts. I've consulted Yin Kurama about this and he's informed me that it was due to my chakra 'restarting' the lives of the tailed beasts so that they may roam again. Because I've had Yang Kurama extracted from me once, my body had to forcibly adjust to that, not too easily, mind, and then Yin Kurama was sealed into me to keep me alive..."

"I believe my body couldn't handle the strain of two extractions, whether forced or intended, so it's succumbing to death in one way or another." The Hokage walked around his desk, standing in front of the four he trusted with all his heart. "Last month, my body began to...fade, for lack of better terms. I know I don't have much longer until I've completely faded from existence, but I know it will happen today. I'm entrusting the future of Konoha to you four." He turned to the masked ANBU and smiled lightly, "Hebi, please remove your mask. I must speak with Uchiha Sasuke."

Nodding, the ANBU captain removed his mask, revealing the Last Uchiha. "Hokage-sama, I understand what you've been enduring. Please do not forget that the Rikudo Sennin granted me equal powers as yours. We can also sense one another; I had already known your signature was odd and...slowly fading." Sasuke said, the last bit coming out slower than usual. This man, despite everything he had done in the past, was the current Hokage's best friend. In fact, they considered themselves brothers and promised one another to remain at each other's side until death does them apart. Unfortunately, death was about to tear them apart.

"Can...can this be reversed?" The dark-haired kunoichi, Uzumaki-Hyuuga Hinata, his wife, asked, her pale eyes worriedly set on the Rokudaime. The blond turned to her, frowning deeply. He really didn't like saying this to his hime, but there was nothing he could say to get around it. No, it was best that she know everything.

"I'm sorry, Hinata-hime. There's nothing anyone can do about this." She gasped at this, and he knew her heart was already in the process of crumbling. He'd have to remedy that soon.

Hatake Kakashi, the silver-haired jonin, spoke up next, "Have you tried alleviating it with your Six Paths Sage technique?"

"I've tried it before; it only sped up the process unfortunately."

"Naruto-kun..." Hinata murmured under her breath. This couldn't be happening! This has to be a mistake or a really bad dream! Not after all their hardships together, their struggles and their relationship as well. Hell, they'd only been married for a year. The Hyuuga knew she suspected her husband was hiding something but he told her he would tell her in due time. That was why they...now she knew why.

Haruno Sakura, the pink-haired medic-nin glared at the blond. "Why would you wait this long to tell us? What about everyone else?!" While she wanted to stay respectful to her Hokage, there were some old habits that just wouldn't die. Shouting at her former teammate who had usually said or did something stupid. This was one of them. "Did you think we shouldn't have known about it or—?"

"Sakura, the reason I hadn't informed anyone until now because there were a few reasons why," he returned her glare with a passive glance, one that didn't harbor any anger for being disrespected nor any of the sort. When he got their attention again, he continued once more, "The number one reason is because everyone would have started panicking just like you did and ask me questions that I do not have many answers to. Can't you imagine the uproar of the people if they were told this? There would've been in an outrage."

The room went silent after that. None of them said another word, only breathed the air around them. It was tense, they knew, but...

"...Permission to speak freely, Hokage-sama."

"Permission granted, Hatake-san."

Kakashi nodded, a heavy sigh escaping his mouth, his eyes still upon his former student. "Naruto, what have you planned to do now that this...is happening?" The man, despite being in denial that his sensei's son, his Hokage, was dying (furious even that he didn't tell them) and there wasn't a way to reverse or cure it, remained calm as possible.

Naruto glanced at his former sensei and nodded. "Yes. I knew my time would come right around today. I've already written down everything that I want in these scrolls here." He unsealed three separate scrolls that were on his person and gave them to Kakashi. However, the last one, he gave to Sasuke. "Only you four are able to see what's inside. My condition is an S-rank secret, not to be mentioned outside this room. The contents inside the scrolls also follow. In a nutshell, these scrolls are my will."

The Rokudaime turned his gaze intently on Sasuke, the Uchiha returning it. He was scared, but kept it back. He noticed, when he squinted, he could see the tell-tale signs of a distortion and flickering particles of light emitting from his best friend's body. They were floating off slowly, like if he were performing some jutsu without hand signs. It was possible given who the young man was, but Sasuke knew Naruto wouldn't purposefully eliminate himself. No, his senses were correct in feeling Naruto's chakra signature lessening slowly every day. The man was using willpower alone to hold on for as long as he could, just to stand here in front of them.

"Sasuke... I know this is very informal of me, but I want to do this before I forget," the blond smiled warmly and the Uchiha ANBU had a strange feeling of what was coming. The others gave their Hokage their attention, wondering. "You were my rival back when we were in Academy. You were my teammate when we were genin. And despite everything we all went through, the pain, the internal struggling, the fighting, you stood by my side and fought the impossible together." Naruto's smile widened a little more while his eyes continued to stare into the dark, endless pools of his friend. "We saved the Elemental Nations together, and you've been a blessing as both my best friend, adviser and personal guard. It is this that I appoint you, Uchiha Sasuke, as my successor as the Nandaime Hokage."

If it had been any other person, they would have dropped the ANBU mask that Sasuke was currently holding. Three years ago, he had declared he wanted to be Hokage in recognition of his change, and his restoration of the Will of Fire. However, the public had chosen Naruto over him, but that was fine. He knew that the blond would choose him as his successor because they shared the same ideals, the same passion for the world. Together, they were bond by Hagoromo's Yin and Yang, bound by ancestry further than the Uchiha and Senju clans. But, to hear the words come out of his best friend's mouth...it stunned him. He thought he'd have to wait patiently for a few more years, maybe longer, given the Uzumaki's lifespan, complimented by his heritage.

"Hokag...Naruto..." Sasuke breathed out slowly, still trying to reel his mind in like a fishing pole does a fish around this. He was expecting this, anticipating it even, but it still stunned him none the less. "Naruto, I... I accept the position." The Uchiha bowed in respect. This caused the blond to chuckle.

"Hey...teme. Don't do that. You're technically my superior now. Like you've always wanted to be," Naruto joked harmlessly, causing the room to partially lighten up. Sasuke rose from his bow and allowed a genuine smile cross his face.

"...Dobe."

"Heh, that's the Sasuke I know. Anyway, listen, the scroll you have in your hands, Sasuke, is my written will of appointing you as my successor. The village S-rank secrets will be for your eyes only. Also, make sure you use Kage Bunshin to help you with the war that is paperwork. It'll overwhelm you if you don't."

Sakura looked down in remorse once the jovial aura of the room dissipated. She was still in denial herself, but...now that she had a better look at Naruto, some parts of his body seemed to flicker into intangibility for half a second before resuming the solid state. If she squinted, she would have seen the fragile light particles rising of his form as well. She just couldn't... No, she couldn't just _accept_ her friend was going to...disappear. But, the signs were there and she knew he wasn't doing this on purpose. If only she could have seen it sooner, she and Tsunade-sama could have at least attempted to finding a way to help him! It wasn't fair. He always helped them in some way, shape or form. Why, why couldn't she ever return the favor?

Kakashi observed his ex-students and Naruto's wife with rapt attention. He was still having a hard time wrapping his head around this whole ordeal. Even though he was older and was entitled to some secrets of his own, not because he was—had been, now—the Hokage, this was something the Copy-nin hoped Naruto to share with all his friends. '_He would have if he had time and the strength to do so... But then, the rest of former Rookie 9 would have raged in some way, like Sakura did... No wonder he hadn't._' He thought to himself, coming to that conclusion. Dying, fading, disappearing...this situation was a delicate one, and the reason why Naruto hadn't made this announcement public, at least with the others, was because he didn't want them to worry about him. Kakashi assumed this as such. His sensei's son had always been like that since he had been the teen's ANBU guard in the past. A clearing of a throat alerted the four to look at Naruto again as his posture resumed it's 'Hokage mode'.

"Kakashi-sensei, Sakura, Sasuke, Hinata-hime. You four are the only ones I can entrust this to at the moment. I know Shikamaru would have remained as calm and in shock at the same time with this knowledge, however, the four of you are closest to me." Naruto smiled warmly again, letting out a sigh, and when he did, allowed his chakra, or what remained of it, go. His body flickered again, but this time, the bright particles of light emanated off his person, visibly, and only continued to grow as it did. The three teens gasped while Kakashi remained as collected as possible. But there was no doubt he was feeling the same way as his former students.

"Naruto!" Sakura screeched in worry but the young man held up a hand to stop her from continuing.

"Don't worry, Sakura-chan..." he used the suffix, one had hadn't used in a long time, affectionately. Sakura was still one of his closest friends, and he used the suffix only when he wanted to grab her attention right on the spot. It did its job effectively as she stopped her forming rant and stared at him with a pained expression.

"You were keeping it in for this long, hm?" Kakashi said in a low voice. Naruto blinked at the statement, but nodded. Of course, hand it to his sensei to figure it out.

"You really can see through me and figure me out, huh?"

Kakashi eye smiled. "It's apart of my job description as your sensei, Naruto. Even if I'm not anymore." The blond smirked, rubbing the back of his head bashfully. Despite his position, the Kyuubi Jinchuriki could _still_ get embarrassed.

"Ha... But I still consider you my sensei regardless. Nothing will change that—" He couldn't finish as a blur jumped at him, grabbing him into a tight embrace. Naruto knew who it was and returned it. "Hinata..."

"Y-you were hiding this all this time... I..."

"Hey, listen to me hime," he softly intertwined his fingers into her dark strands soothingly, not caring that he was being used as a crying pillow at the moment. No, he loved his wife, and even though his time was going out, he wouldn't leave without giving her a gift. "I didn't want you to worry about me. I wanted to spend the time with you, with our friends, without that worry. Without you all knowing that this was my personal burden to bear. I just couldn't allow you to know. Because you would have gotten upset and then tried to find a way to reverse the effect. And, I just couldn't imagine how heartbroken you would be if I told you there was nothing you could do about it..." Granted, he had told them now, but it was with friends and not alone.

Hinata's form trembled under his touch, in fear that he would vanish before he finished. Her mind was still in denial, still believing this was some cruel joke or a well-thought out genjutsu. But, she could _feel_ him. His body felt _lighter_ as she wrapped her arms around his form. And, when she opened her eyes, she could somewhat _see_ right through him. Shinobi code be damned—she couldn't fight her strong emotions and these tears! "W-why couldn't..." The former Hyuuga heiress couldn't bring herself to finish her sentence. Naruto seemingly knew where it was going and answered anyway.

"I don't know. Kurama and the other bijuu don't know either, but they compared this to when the Rikudo Sennin separated the Juubi from his body and created the nine of them. He was getting old, though, so he couldn't contain the Juubi within his body anymore. He knew it would be released the moment he died, so he did what he had." The blond held his wife in his arms, bringing her close as possible. "I may not have had the Juubi within me, but I had the essence of the nine beasts within me. I've already assumed the effect of separating them from myself caused my body to start...disappearing. It's unstable and most likely, got attached to the bijuu themselves and either attempted to become one of them and substitute everything with chakra."

"What...what does that mean?" Sakura asked.

"He means because of the bijuu's influence, his body adjusted to their pure chakra entities and adjusted to it. Without them, his body isn't a condensed form of chakra like they are and can't hold together any longer." Sasuke answered as if he had read the blond's mind. Given their connection, it probably wasn't too farfetched.

"...That's why you said you were 'dying'," Kakashi wondered, another heavy sigh escaped him. "You're not a bijuu, yet your body assumed a half state of being both human and a condensed structure of chakra..."

"Yeah, that's it." Naruto replied factually, noting his ex-teacher's pained tone when he gave the layman's version of the explanation. Boy, this was turning out weirder as it went. "Unfortunately, I can't survive without a solid structure of chakra within me. If I had Yang Kurama merged with his Yin self, then I could be stabilized enough to remain in a solid form for as long as my human lifespan allowed."

**"Was that really it...?"** the low rumble of the nine-tailed bijuu's voice echoed within his conscience. Naruto mentally nodded to his partner, his other best friend. Even though he had bonded with his Yang version, the memories transferred over once the Yin form had been sealed inside him during the war. **"Kit, you should have told me. I would have contacted my other self and this whole mess wouldn't be happening now."**

'_It wasn't like I really knew about that until today. Besides, your other self is...happy being free. Why don't you go join him and merge together, anyway?_'

**"You know full well why I'm not. I'm coming along for the ride, kit."**

Naruto sighed internally. '_I tried._' But, he was happy that Kurama—well, one of him—was still by his side, no matter what. The blond could remove the bijuu from his person, but that would only upset his friend. The last thing he needed was another angry companion. It wouldn't do on his conscience knowing he had upset his friends. In fact, he still didn't want to disappear because it was doing the same thing, having a similar effect. No, it didn't matter _how_ he approached this problem, the end results would have been the same. '_But you know, you would die with me. I wouldn't want that to happen—_'

**"Don't give me that. I'm fully aware that I could die along with you. Despite there being no seal that holds me within you, I'm choosing this path. For all that's worth, being beside you for this long... I think our...partner-relationship could see death together." **The darker orange furred Kurama said within the mindscape. Naruto smiled at that. The greatest demon of all the Elemental Nations had finally gone soft! The world must be truly ending if he was saying something as sappy as this. Apparently the fox overheard this thought and growled non-threateningly. **"Hmph, don't push your luck, kit!"**

'_I'm not, trust me._' the blond replied back, chuckling a little. '_Thanks Kurama. It really is touching that you care._' The large fox turned his head away, not in shame for being thanked, absolutely not! Of course, he'd never admit that but his former container knew why and left it at that. It'd be something to use and tease the great fox later on in the afterlife. Once that thought processed, Naruto's body tensed and became a tad more sluggish. Everything felt heavier than usual, and his grip on Hinata was becoming a chore for him. Was this the effect of his body disappearing?

* * *

In that moment, he gasped, unexpectedly kneeling to the floor. Everyone in the room reacted and practically flew to his side, minus Hinata, who was already there. Yeah, he felt like he was getting heavier and slower. Not to mention, the glowing light orbs that were emitting from his person were growing bigger, and he started the signs of fading.

"Naruto!" Sakura and Sasuke called out worriedly in unison. Kakashi's eyes betrayed him, feeling them burning with tears. He hadn't cried since the day his teammate, Uchiha Obito, was presumably dead, when he killed Nohara Rin, his other teammate and the day his sensei died sealing the Kyuubi within his son. But now, he was struggling with them. His mask was chipping away at a leisure pace and he knew it wouldn't be long until the tears would fall from his eyes. He owed so much to the teen that was crumbling to the floor, trying his best to remain with them a few moments longer. He had done many things for Kakashi, including restoring his left eye during the war, and bringing peace to the nations. He was never alone, but he had to give him credit.

In his arms, Hinata was shaking even more. She didn't want him to leave her, she didn't want him to disappear. They had just been married a year ago, had been a happy, loving young couple, and they wanted to start a family. How cruel was this? Was this always the fate of Uzumaki Naruto? To never have a family? His father had died on the day he was born and now her husband was going to die before they finished their plans of having a family. It wasn't fair, it really wasn't. To herself, she chuckled darkly at the thought of "fate". Her cousin, Neji, had been so obsessed with it before his view was changed by Naruto during their first time taking the Chunin Exams. Neither she nor Naruto believed in fate but could it have caught up to them now everything was at peace?

A soft kiss to her cheek alerted her that her husband was still there. How much longer did she have in his embrace until he was no more? She glanced up to him, tears stringing down her face. "Naruto-kun..."

"Hime. I know this is painful. It's painful for even me," he started and that's when she noticed he had fought back his own tears but failing miserably. "I know our time has been cut short... but..." Naruto placed a hand upon her stomach. She knew she wasn't pregnant at all, but now that she thought about it, they _had_ interacted intimately a month ago. Hinata was quick to assume what he meant by this action and her cheeks tinted a dark shade of red. "I want you to take care of him." Him? _Him_? A...son? He knew they would eventually have a son? Then again, this could be his ability of having the Six Paths Sage technique pulling through.

"...I..." Her breath hitched as the words stopped but a comforting hand of her husband soothed her some. "...I understand... N-Naruto-kun." Oh dear, her stuttering returned. She thought she had gotten rid of that, but it resurfaced. The blond laughed a little at her stammering. The sound of his voice warmed her core but the situation they were in wasn't all too welcome. The feeling of coldness, dread, and loneliness was coming. She didn't want that. "I don't want you to leave me. Please...please let there be some other way."

"I wish there was, Hinata. I so wish there was. It's too late to call the other Kurama here. Who knows how far away he is at this point." Naruto slumped forward even further, eventually becoming dead weight. He could barely keep his arms around his wife; it was seriously becoming more of a chore. He was putting his all into keeping them around her form, to hold her there close to him. She did likewise.

"The council will no doubt want to hear about this...predicament. They'll have to be informed that I appointed Sasuke as my successor and finalize it," the Rokudaime said again, his eyes glancing from Kakashi to Sakura and finally landing on his best friend, Sasuke himself. "I'm sorry...all of you."

"What are...you apologizing for, Naruto-baka?" Sakura asked, using the suffix affectionately. He didn't mind anyway; it was normally used in private nowadays because the people would get offended if his former teammate called him that in public, thus disrespecting their Hokage. "Other than not telling us that this was happening to you. Th-this isn't your fault though..." She finished, trying her best to keep her own tears back but also failing.

"To add what Sakura said, I hope you'd have come to us beforehand, Naruto," Kakashi added, looking at the blond. "We could have figured something out together."

"I know... But I thought it was nothing at first but then when I figured out what was going on, I just... I didn't want to worry anybody."

"You still could have told us something..." Sasuke said with a firm glare in his dark eyes. Of course, everyone in the room was fighting back tears including him. "We're in this together, Naruto. Don't count us out of things like this!"

"...I know. I know that now... I just. I couldn't allow my friends to worry about me. I wanted to keep you all happy, away from my burden. But that was a huge mistake of mine that I'm now regretting."

**"Damn right it was."**

'_Not you, too!_'

**"You expect me to let you not live this down?"**

'_No, not really but..._'

Naruto winced as he felt his arms shake and suddenly go numb. They fell to his sides and his body finally collapsed to the floor. Well, it almost did had Sasuke not caught his head before that. Everyone went on sudden alarm. They knew they were prolonging this, but...but they just needed more time with him. Just a little longer.

'_Kami, don't please...don't let him go...please let him stay for a little more._' Hinata thought desperately.

'_The light's getting brighter...and I feel so much heavier than before. And damn, I can actually see myself fading. Well, this sucks._' Naruto thought. '_I can barely keep my eyes open._'

**"Well shit, our time's up, Naruto."**

'_You know, that offer about releasing you still stands._'

"**And when I'm released, the Hokage Tower will collapse and possibly kill innocent people below due to my size."**

'_Oh, right. Well...I could transfer you to Sasuke—_'

**"I'm not going anywhere, brat."** Kurama growled in finality. **"I just told you I'm coming along for the ride. Are you forgetting our friendship, kit?"**

'_No. But just thought I'd give it a shot again just in case you wanted to be free...again._' Naruto realized how odd that sounded, since the Yang half of Kurama was the one that was out and not inside him. Boy, this was getting confusing. '_Um... you know what I mean._'

The large fox chuckled deeply at his ex-container's words. **"Sure, being free sounds delightful, but I'm content remaining here. Since you changed the kami-forsaken atmosphere in here, it's been rather pleasing to stay. Besides, my other half is free to do what he wants."**

'_Dunno if I should be scared of that or not._'

"**Don't worry, he remembers our partnership with you. He is deciding to give humanity another chance, just as Kaguya has."**

'_Oh, all right then. I feel reassured then. All the bijuu deserve to live and be free, not contained, and do what they want. Except destroying things for fun, of course. That's why I separated them from myself. To give them that freedom, that chance to be alive and not trapped inside someone's mind and strapped to a life of being contained._' He meant every word of this, and he knew the nine-tailed fox knew it, too. Only a growl of approval was his reply before Naruto returned his attention to his friends. He knew his time was running out and fast. His blue eyes glazed over, but he could see the worried looks in his friends' eyes. They were trying to hold their emotions in check, but he knew, he could _feel_ them leaking out.

"...It's...all right to cry," Naruto breathed out. He grumbled to himself after he spoke. It was even harder to speak to them! His body felt like a giant piece of stone that wouldn't budge, no matter what he did. He felt numb all over. The only time he felt like that was when Yang Kurama had been extracted forcibly from him those years ago. He struggled to keep his eyes open, barely half-lidded, straining to keep the smile on his face. If he was going to die, or disappear, he wanted no more regrets. How ironic that he'd never see his family grow up, much like his father hadn't with him. '_Maybe Neji's obsession with Fate has finally kicked in..._' he thought absentmindedly.

"Don't you...all regret anything...after this. I may not be happy...I never will, but this...I have made my peace." Naruto fixed his gaze towards his former teacher. "Sensei, please... help Sasuke lead Konoha and the other nations. And keep your head out of your porn," he allowed himself a smirk, which the older male eye smiled in response. It was the weary, saddened version of it, and Naruto knew, but he was glad his teacher understood. "Sakura, keep training medic-nins for teams and the hospital running strong. Tsunade-baachan will... still need you in the future." The pink-haired ninja closed her eyes but nodded solemnly.

"Sasuke..." Naruto focused his attention to his successor, who met his gaze firmly. "Keep Konoha healthy and strong. I know you will be a powerful Kage and just leader. I believe in you...teme." He couldn't help but say that, in a serious but light manner. Sasuke smiled a true smile, nodding genuinely to his predecessor.

"Of course I will...Dobe." He replied, using the normal insulting name as a nickname. Like with Sakura, the two only called each other such names in private. It reminded them of their past, the good and the bad. His face turned serious as he spoke his next sentence, "I will give my life for Konoha, just as the past Hokage have done, and you." Deep down, the Uchiha was hoping Naruto would remain longer. He couldn't bear to see his best friend in such a state, fading in and out like he was. Naruto's body was heavy, heavier than anything he's ever lifted before. Hell, he was using his chakra to keep his strength to holding the blond from hitting the ground unforgivably.

Naruto nodded, forcing himself to remain where he was. He could feel the effects of the disappearance creeping up on him. He wasn't sure how but he _felt_ it. "Everyone...keep...Konoha safe... That's...an order," Naruto mumbled out weakly.

"Hai...Hokage-sama..." The four numbly replied softly. They knew this was Naruto's final order and would respect and uphold it with their very lives.

The blond knew they would hold true to that, and finally allowed the force to take his right arm. Cringing at its painful symptoms, he turned his focus to the last kunoichi in the room, the one looking down at him with tears pouring out of her lovely, pale eyes. Grappling for some form of control of his left arm, the one nearest her, the blond reached up, grimacing at the costive pace but knowing he couldn't do anything about it, and touched her face. "Hime..."

Hinata gently cupped her hands around his, never wanting to let go. "...Naruto-kun..."

Smiling weakly, feeling his chest harden as his heart's beat steadily declined. His eyes were growing wearier by the second. The energy he was using to maintain some semblance of solidity and keeping his hand where it lie was taxing him. An extreme price to pay, but worthily. He didn't want to leave Hinata alone, with any regrets of his passing. The radiant speckles emitting from his body intensified, and his feet began to fade out. It started seeping up his ankles, closing towards his legs. His time was approaching, but he needed to say this. '_Come on...Just...just have to open my mouth. It's so hard, and I'm so tired. Damn it! Just a little more!_' Naruto thought angrily.

"Don't forget me. Don't...regret...this..." He managed to grit out. Naruto couldn't keep his eyes open any longer. He fought valiantly to keep them open, to see his beautiful wife's face, but they wouldn't obey him. Fuck. Still, he had his mouth working, albeit, very hard to even maintain that control over it, too. With a deep sigh of relief, feeling the wetness of Hinata's tears splatter silently on his face, he ran his hand carefully over her cheek. "Don't cry, my princess. Even...if I'm not here... I will be here for you."

So much for having control over his arm. The control slipped from him, as if a force pulled it out of his grasp. Hinata gasped when it did, but kept his hand to her face, trying to warm it for comfort. She couldn't speak, just listen to him. She knew these were his last moments and knew he had more to say. The fact her mind was starting to see the light of this situation wasn't making this any easier for her. Her eyes traced over her husband's body, noticing nearly half his body was vanishing. The brilliance wasn't doing her eyes any good, either. There wasn't time left; she _had_ to do this now, again, before she lost him forever.

She leaned over, her hair cascading over her shoulders as she did. It was strange to see some strands fall upon Naruto's near transparent body and some to go through him as well. Hinata drew closer until their lips were touching. She could still feel and hear his breath, could still hear his heart beating although weakly. The Hyuuga squeezed his hand one more time before setting it upon the floor, letting it go languidly. "Naruto-kun...I love you." She said, cupping her hands around his face, allowing their lips to touch.

He barely breathed out his response, tears streaming down his face once more, "I love you, too."

She pressed their lips together with a deep kiss. Hinata listened to his ragged breath hitch, accepting the comfort and if he could, he would have moved to join her in this passionate moment. But no, he was stiff, finally going numb everywhere. He felt his beloved's tender touch, and would treasure it no matter what. They remained in that position until his entire form completely winked away with the glowing light. Hinata opened her eyes to find Naruto no longer underneath her. She was most definitely heartbroken, already feeling empty as the love of her life, her husband, was taken from her. She closed her eyes, wrapping her arms around herself and settled for silently sobbing. This pain, it was too much. She would weep and mourn his death for now. She wouldn't cry forever; he had made his peace, he left with no regrets.

She would have no regrets either. But for now, she would settle for mourning him, just as she had for her cousin Neji. Sakura couldn't force her tears back this time, and they fell like an unstoppable waterfall. Kakashi placed a hand upon her shoulder, hoping to give the medic-nin comfort. Sasuke gritted his teeth together. He was frustrated and angry. Angry at Naruto for not telling them his condition. He sensed them, thanks to their bond, but he thought the idiot would tell _somebody_ about them. But no, the bloke just _had_ to keep them to himself. The Uchiha placed a hand on his bloodbound brother's wife's shoulder, trying to comfort her as well. If any indication by Naruto's gesture towards her stomach earlier, then they would have a mini clone of the blond running around sometime in the future.

'_Naruto..._' Sasuke thought in a whispered, longing tone, feeling disconnected in an eerie way. Perhaps it was because of the lack of the Yang half of Hagoromo's form that vanished alongside the blond. Idiot, but wherever he was, he hoped it was the heavens and not in the pits of hell. He deserved to go up there, after all.

* * *

Elsewhere...

'_I don't feel bad anymore. It hurts, the pain of leaving them will never go away, but I can deal with it._' Naruto thought. He felt like he was drifting off, like if he suddenly been floating on the surface of water. '_I'll never forget that last kiss, either._'

**"It's a shame you left on such a note..."** Kurama's voice murmured from within. **"Let's hope my other half comes around when your mate has your future kit."**

'_Yeah, that'd be great... I know we discussed a name for a possible kid. I already knew it'd be a boy though for some reason._'

**"...Having this conversation while dying seems very odd and all but..."**

'_Well, I have nothing else to do. Wait a minute...what's that I'm feeling?_'

Kurama paused himself, now noticing the faint trace of energy. Peculiar...why did it feel familiar to his own? When it grew closer, his eyes widened. **"Well, damn. It's my other half."** He stated rather bluntly, a little bit surprised. Naruto, however, blinked in utter shock.

'_Wait. I thought he was back in the...um realm of the living? So why is he FOLLOWING us to our death?_'

**"Think about it for a second. He and I are one in the same. We both had contact with you, you being our most recent container. Some of your chakra had been inside him for a long duration, for sixteen years. We're most likely dragging him down with us than him following."** At that explanation, Naruto calmed down then said a couple words that seemingly summed up their current situation.

'_Well, shit._'

**"Couldn't have said it better myself... And this will definitely put your world at risk of being off balance of chakra."**

'_Damn it. See, this could have been prevented if you'd had _just _accepted my offer and be released from me._' Naruto grumbled.

**"And be stuck there bored with humans I don't trust for the rest of my immortal life? Hmph!"**

'_...Good point._'

At that moment, both Naruto and Yin Kurama felt the presence of Yang Kurama's form. It felt like being slammed into a stone wall with a sword embedded through his heart. At least, for Naruto it did. For Kurama, well, it wasn't too pleasant, either. It seemed like the brilliant radiance that his body had emitted earlier hadn't gone away completely, as it wrapped the nineteen year old Hokage and the pair of Kurama into its luminescence. Huh, it felt peculiar. Wait, how were they "feeling" anything? Weren't they dying? Do dying people, and chakra monsters, feel anything anymore?

**"Something tells me this isn't the end..."** Yang Kurama mumbled.

**"...Indeed."** Yin Kurama said after.

With both of them there, Naruto felt a headache coming on. But he had to agree with them. This felt _off_ for some reason. He wasn't sure what it was but before he could say anything on the matter, he closed his eyes as the light blinded them all. All three of them thought one thing while it enveloped them.

Shit.

* * *

Edited: 8/14/2014


	2. Duet

**AN:** Enjoy the second chapter! My apologies for any misspellings. I don't have a beta so I proof for myself.

Edited: 8/14/2014

* * *

Duet

2

* * *

Friday, October 10, Year 400 NE

10:34 pm

The day had gone by horrifyingly slow for one Namikaze Minato. The Fourth had been waiting in anticipation as today was the day his child was scheduled to be born, thanks to Tsunade-sama's expertise. The Fourth Hokage felt the day couldn't have gone any _slower_. But he waited agonizingly, wondering when his wife would go into labor. A deep chuckle from within his mind reminded him to remain patient and he listened to it, grudgingly of course.

His two students, Hatake Kakashi and Uchiha Obito had visited him throughout the day while he was handling the paperwork war. Both teens were excited in their own way about the news of their sensei's child. Obito pointedly made it fact that he'd be his child's jonin sensei when they became a genin. Kakashi's response to that remark caused the two to argue again, throwing insults at one another such as 'dobe' and 'idiot' from Kakashi, and from Obito's mouth, 'teme' and baka'. Minato had sighed and dismissed his students from his office, much to their ire.

Nobody in Konohagakure knew about Minato's personal life. In fact, none knew he was married to his lovely with, Uzumaki Kushina, or the fact he is distantly related to the Nidaime Hokage, Senju Tobirama. Popular belief had led the world to believe the man never had children, but that was incorrect. None knew he was going to be a father soon, nor did they know the other secret of his.

Namikaze Minato was also the Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails, the Kyuubi no Kitsune.

Only the Sandaime, his teacher, Jiraya the Toad Sage, Kushina and his two students knew of his status as a Jinchuriki. Unfortunately, so does the council but because the transfer process from Mito-sama, Senju Hashirama's wife, had been successful when done, nobody viewed the blond with malice or ill-will intentions as he grew up in the village. It had been a hard battle for Minato to win the darned fox's minimal trust over the years, but thanks to his diluted Senju blood, the demon had calmed down and sometimes lifted a claw to assist his container whenever he could.

As he had been working for most of the day into the night, it was at 10:47 at night when one Uchiha Obito had barged into his office, bringing in a nurse maid for Kushina, stating his wife's water broke and she was going into labor. Faster than anyone could say "Free Ramen", Minato had Hiraishin'd straight to Kushina's location. For privacy's sake, they were located in one of Minato's hidden safe houses just outside of the village. He didn't want any prying eyes knowing of Kushina's pregnancy, especially this. Sarutobi Biwako, his predecessor's wife and a few others were working as nurse maid's to help deliver the baby. Minato had stayed by his wife's side the entire ordeal, sweating and panicking.

This was it.

He was going to be a father.

* * *

12:25 am

* * *

"Congratulations, Hokage-sama, Uzumaki-san, it's a healthy baby boy!" one of the nurse maids, Taiji, exclaimed happily. Minato's heart nearly jumped out in sheer joy at the news; his beaming face couldn't be any brighter than the sun itself. His cerulean eyes glanced at his panting wife, keeping hold of his hand to hers. The wailing child's voice was music to his ears; it only meant his newborn son was alive, breathing, and with them now.

"Kushina...did you hear that? It's a boy," the blond whispered gleefully, unable to contain the excitement. He gently brushed some of her sweat-matted auburn locks from her face, smiling when he did. The red-haired woman's eyes opened slowly, but the beauty of their gentle, blue-green hue, found themselves attached to her husband's own eyes, returning the smile; it was weak but genuine.

"...Yes... O-our... little Naruto..." She breathed out, remembering the name they decided on a few weeks ago.

Once the wailing infant was cleaned off and checked, he was wrapped in a soft, blue blanket and presented to the anxious parents, courtesy of Biwako. "Hokage-sama," she said with a smile and light bow, handing the now-father his child. Almost as if the babe were made out of precious China glass, Minato awkwardly accepted the bundle of joy that changed his life a mere few minutes ago. The Sandaime's wife gently corrected his error of holding the infant, which Minato blushed in embarrassment. Well, it was his first time so he had a small excuse for the slip up.

He brought the baby to Kushina, to allow her to hold him. His son had bright, blond hair just like his. The baby's complexion was tanned, similarly to his own, but by shade darker to resemble his wife's. He even had adorable little birthmarks that seemed familiar; where'd he seen those before.

And that's when he remembered the fox that was sealed within him. Weird occurrence, but oh well. He personally didn't care. This was his little boy who he was going to spoil, train, and raise into a strong shinobi and pass down all his jutsu. He was going to be there when his son begins to crawl, when he takes his first steps, when he graduates from the Academy, when he gets his first girlfriend, and be there for him when he needs a shoulder to lean on.

He wouldn't have to do it alone, of course. He had his beautiful wife with him.

"Naruto, you're so beautiful. You're going to grow up to be a handsome young man one day. Just like your father." Kushina cooed lovingly to her little man, adoring the way he was sleeping. He had finally calmed down not long ago. He was so small, so fragile, and she kept him close to her. Minato chuckled in agreement to the comparison. Given how similar he and Naruto already looked, he was certain his son would turn out handsome. The new family of three remained there in comfort, just by themselves, savoring the moment in harmony.

They were cluelessly unaware of the danger that was vastly approaching.

* * *

1:39 am

Around Konoha

* * *

Minato swore colorfully with every word he could think of.

Right now, he was bounding from branch to branch, a bundle in his arms secured tightly as he maneuvered through the trees. He also had another in his other arm, unconscious. It was a little boy with strikingly similar blond hair to his own and wearing clothes that were many sizes too large for him. His son was wailing uncontrollably, as he had been disturbed from his sleep. Not to mention, he was hungry and irritated. Minato gave his son a glance which held concern and worry. Not even a few minutes ago was he and his wife enjoying their moment of peace with their newborn son.

It was interrupted by a spike of chakra and before he could use his Hiraishin, a deadly explosion erupted from above them. The safehouse—no longer safe, now—collapsed on them. It was tragic; Sarutobi's wife was heavily injured, and eventually succumbed to them, the other nurse maids were killed. They were only civilians, after all. Then Kushina. Minato clenched his teeth when he recalled it, that horrifying memory.

-**Flashback no Jutsu**-

_A man adorned in a long, black cloak with strange, dark blue clouds designed on it approached through the debris of the collapsed structure. His face was covered with a swirling, orange mask that covered his entire face, which revealed only his eyes. They were red and daring, full of malicious intent. His short hair seemed like a dark-brown to black color, and he carried himself as if he owned the place. _

_Minato had just shielded his family from the sudden attack, utilizing the Kyuubi's cloak mode. His entire form was flickering in a warm, orange glow while his eyes were red with the Kyuubi's slitted influence in them. His hair had long since spiked up, with a few strands purposefully flowing upwards in the shape of what appeared to be a reminiscent sense of fox ears. Upon his back were black markings that formed a half circle shape. Six magatama around his collar bone and upon the flaps of his coat. Thick, black markings ran down his "body suit"; they stretched from his chest all the way to his legs. His hands also had the same markings as well._

_There was a swirl in the center of his chest, which was his seal where the Kyuubi's chakra mainly resided. _

_In his arms was a crying Naruto, who was disturbed._

"Kyuubi Jinchuriki," _the mysterious man said, his voice deep and baleful. Minato could sense it, thanks to the bijuu he was currently housing._ "Give yourself up and allow me to have the demon within you."

"No." _the cloaked blond bluntly replied. If this fool thought he'd willingly give himself up to have the Kyuubi extracted from him, he was crazy. Who outright gave themselves up like that?_ _The masked intruder didn't seem phased by the former blond's snippy response and chuckled darkly. The Hokage didn't like where it was going._

"You seem to misunderstand," _he said, being awfully calm about the tense situation. His eyes flashed—Minato could see the swirl of the tomoe, noting that this man had the Sharingan—and from nowhere, a vortex appeared and out of the strange phenomenon, a familiar face and hair of red caught his eye. No...no way...!_

"Kushina!" _Minato yelled. This bastard somehow captured his wife and holding her hostage. How did he? She had just been with him! _

"Hm, now you see the severity of the situation, Jinchuriki." _The man started up again, jerking the Uzumaki woman up by her hair. Kushina painfully cried out. She was too weak to move, to fight back, after having given birth to her son just an hour ago. Her soft whimpers made Minato snarl in fury. Normally, he was calm and composed, no matter the situation, but now...Now that his wife and his child were in danger, he couldn't help but give into the feral rage that was sidling up for control. No, it wasn't just the Kyuubi's virulent nature._

_It came from _both_ him and its container._

"Let her go." _Minato growled out, keeping his son protectively in his arms. The child was still crying out loudly, for attention, for his aching hunger and because he could sense the distress of his father. _

_The masked man chuckled again. _"Now, now, you know I can't do that. But I'm willing to trade. Give yourself up to me and I'll release your harpy wench and claim no harm to your spawn."_ He tilted his head in mock curiosity._ "Isn't that a fair trade, hm? Hokage-**sama**?" _He was taunting him, Minato knew it. The trade was false, he could tell. There was no way that man would simply leave after he had his way with him. He would mercilessly slaughter his wife, his predecessor's wife and his newborn son without so much as blinking. This man, this _Uchiha_, couldn't be trusted. Not after everything he's done so far._

_Thank goodness he could sense emotions in this form easily._ "You lie," _Minato hissed. _"You will kill them both regardless of my decision."

_The Uchiha intruder snorted, as if he were amused, but stared back at his target._ "It appears the fox has enhanced your senses. It has been known to sense the ill will and evil intentions within us human and others. Not only are you gifted with its speed and power, but its abilities... And you're in perfect sync with that demon as well."

_Minato's hold on his son tightened as he saw those deadly Sharingan eyes glare at his infant child. There was no way in hell he'd even let the man lay a finger on his son. The Fourth snarled again when the Uchiha also tightened his grip on Kushina's hair, jerking her back, making her cry out in agony once again. This didn't sit well with the Fourth. Not one bit._

"I won't say this again. Let. Her. **Go**."

"Hmph. You still don't realize your predicament, Kyuubi container. I'm the one pulling the strings here. Either surrender yourself, or I will take your son and your wife and kill them both. With no mercy."

_The man was met with a well deserved growl, from both the container and the demon within him. He was well aware of the Kyuubi's past with Uchiha Madara, and had come to the conclusion that the beast had somehow warned its host of his presence. Not only that, their perfect sync was becoming a nuisance. The stronger a bond with the demon, the harder it is to extract from the host. Still, he knew if he could emotionally break the Jinchuriki for even a fraction of a second, he would be completely vulnerable, long enough for him to forcibly remove the bijuu. And he already had one ace up his sleeve; why not another?_

_Minato's eyes narrowed further, teeth clenched together as the feral, animalistic snarl rumbled from his vocals. This bastard... How dare he?! _

"Very well. If you won't choose..." _The man's eyes, the tomoe in both began spinning, shifting into another shape entirely. Minato was already on edge, anticipating anything. He wouldn't let anyone get hurt. His wife needed him. _"I'll choose for you!" _The annoying masked Uchiha's eyes stopped spinning and suddenly, the air seemed to shift. The Fourth saw that things around him were distorting and twisting, and the focus seemed to go towards both his opponent's eyes. It struck him as odd that he was using this strange time-space ninjutsu, much like his kekkai genkai, the Hiraishin. _

_Acting quickly, Minato evaded by flashing away, carrying his crying son with him. He attempted to get close while gripping a kunai in his other, unoccupied hand, and strike the fool down. Just as he tried, he seemed to have gone right through him, as if he weren't there! What the? Sensing an oncoming attack, the Fourth twisted out of the way, avoiding the Uchiha's sickle blade that would have torn into his back. _'How did he do that...?' _he wondered, now blocking an attack and repelled a kick that was aimed for his head. _

"_**Minato, do not stare into his eyes. Those are the accursed eyes, the ones that bastard Uchiha Madara used on me in the past. The Sharingan. It only takes a second for the technique to take effect and he will slip into your mindscape and rip me out of you in a heartbeat."**__ Kyuubi's deep voice advised his host, watching and alerting the blond whenever the sneaky upstart would try to pull a fast one. Despite the fact he did want freedom, he couldn't help but admire the strength of his current host. And he'd rather be caged in by a Senju descendant than under a possession by the damned Uchiha. _

_Kushina's cries of pain weren't helping Minato focus correctly, ashamed as he would admit it, but not aloud though. It pained him to see her in that man's grasp. No matter how he used his bloodlimit, the masked Uchiha would have the upper hand in repelling him away from her. Damn it! She needed him right now! Naruto's wailing also made this fight harder. There was no way he was going to put his precious son down where he would be susceptible to their attacks. _'Kami, there's got to be a way to beat this man.'

"What's wrong, Mina-**chan**?" _The man asked, taunting the Hokage once again. It didn't have its desired effect of enraging the Yellow Flash, but he did get him to stiffen from the nickname—something he'd allow only his wife to call him. It was the best he'd get out of the infuriating Jinchuriki anyway._ "Don't you care about your wench?"

_Minato kept his distance from the bastard, knowing he was trying to play on his emotions. Granted, they were having some effect on him. He's still human after all and it normally doesn't take a human long enough to snap and go ballistic. Before the Fourth could do anything, the man's eyes began twisting the dimensions again, but instead of things going in, something was coming _out_. What? _

"It appears the summon completed itself," _The Uchiha said with a dark chuckle attached. That didn't seem to bode very well._ "I no longer have time to play with you, Namikaze Minato. It appears my **new** Kyuubi Jinchuriki will supply me with the same desire and plans." _What was he saying? What? Was he implying there are two Kyuubi out there? _

_Coming out of the man's eyes was a swirl of yellow which began to form into a small body. When it was completely out, whatever it was, Minato froze. Lying on the ground was a boy with shockingly similar blond hair—a tiny shade brighter than his own—and wearing clothes thrice his size, ripped to accommodate his tiny form and barefooted. His heart was pounding; he felt he knew this kid from the bottom of his heart, but he couldn't figure out why or where. Things just got more complicated. _"Ah, there it is. It's perfect, too. A small child that also houses the Kyuubi." _The man said as he eyed up the unconscious boy hungrily. The mere thought made the Hokage cringe._ "Now then. Time to take my prize and unleash the beast—"

"No!" _Minato and surprisingly Kushina, shouted simultaneously. The Fourth instantly flashed towards the man._

_Several things happened in that split second._

_The man grabbed the boy, his hand just barely over where a seal was at upon his stomach, but Minato's Hiraishin allowed him to snatch him. Kushina cried out to him as she had been released._

_The man's hand came from somewhere—nowhere, literally—from in front of Minato and pushed into his chest. The blond Hokage made a fatal error and stared into the Uchiha's eyes for only a split second. His own began spinning in the same pattern, the small sign of semi-possession. He felt the bastard entering his mind and taking hold the the Kyuubi. Minato's cloaked form began to flicker out, on and off like a switch._

_Before the entire beast was pulled all the way out, Kushina had used her remaining strength to knock the man away from her husband, canceling the effects of the Sharingan. The bastard, angered that he didn't get the entire demon fox, used this chance to callously gruesomely impale the red-haired woman through her chest using his chained sickle. _

_Now, there was a half-its-normal-size Kyuubi free, under the possession of the Uchiha. Minato still stood despite having the tailed beast being partially extracted from him. The Kyuubi that was now raging towards Konoha under the man's control. Damn it. Damn it!_

'Kyuubi...how are you holding up?'_ Minato thought, worried for the companion he had bonded with._

"**_...Just weary a little. He took a fuck ton of chakra out of me when he began pulling me out. But, I am fine. I'll need to recharge my chakra for a while, I advise you to get out of the Bijuu mode for the time being. I will let you know when I have replenished." _**_The Nine-Tailed demon said, sitting up in a meditative position, his front paws closed together and eyes shut. Minato sent him a mental nod and returned to his normal form. The darkness that surrounded him before, having been illuminated by his light, regressed back and the surrounding area dulled. He knew the masked teme was going for the village and he had to stop him. But...Kushina. _

_The Yellow Flash wasn't stupid to believe his wife survived that attack. It had been a direct hit, fatal. Little Naruto began wailing again at the discomfort, crying his little eyes out. The sound seemed to have alerted Kushina, as she sluggishly opened her eyes to see her husband standing over her. She offered him an even weaker smile._

"K-Kushina..."

"Minato... P-please. Don't look at me...that way." _She was struggling to keep talking. She was happy that her husband was still alive. That extraction, had it been complete, would have killed him, and it would have left their son abandoned in the company of that madman. There was a flicker in her eyes when she saw her crying baby cradled protectively in his arms. _"...Naruto..."

"He is all right, just shaken up from everything that's happened so far. He's...He's a tough boy. He's **our** boy, remember?"

_Kushina simply nodded. Then, her gaze went from her son to the other little blond. For some reason, she knew who this boy was. She didn't know it, but at the same time, she did. The moment she saw her baby, her maternal instinct had activated, of sorts. She had only seen the kid's face for a few seconds before she had been impaled and that's when it clicked. That little boy, who looked no more than five or six years old, was her son—their son. Somehow, he was. She just...knew. There was no mistake about it. He had the same shade of hair like her newborn son, and his skin complexion was the same. Even those whisker marks that donned his cheeks. _

_Everything about him was the same as her little prince. _

_And, she couldn't stay with either of them._

_Tears were building in her eyes as she looked forlornly at both of her boys and her husband. She knew she was on borrowed time, and wanted to make it last. She motioned for Minato to let her have her infant son for one more time. One last time. She cooed to him, allowed her hand to smooth over his already soft skin. The baby sensed her comforting presence and slowly began to calm down, his angry cries for attention being fulfilled. _

_What surprised Minato next was that Kushina had brushed the hair of the boy in his arms. She looked at the strange child lovingly, like she knew him. That was odd. _"Kushina?"

"Minato... I'm sorry... I'm... I know this will cause you nothing but pain. I...I can't... But, please...don't leave Naruto. He may never have his mother...but to lose his father as well..." _Here, she coughed up blood, her body trembled from the bitter, coppery taste of the fluid that rolled out of her mouth. Seeing his wife like this was hurting Minato so much, but he allowed her to continue speaking. It was unfortunately going to be her last. It was hard to accept but there was nothing he could do about this except listen to her soft voice. _"Promise, Minato. Promise me that...that you'll take care of them...Our Naruto. Both of them."

_Minato looked at her quizzically. Both of them? There were two Naruto? But, he had seen the whole birth and labor and everything. He didn't see two babies come out. _"Both?" _He asked softly. His beloved smiled again, her focus on the smaller boy's form. Minato followed it and studied him closely, making the facial comparisons. First, the boy had the hair, of course, and the skin complexion like his newborn son. And oddly enough, there were those whisker marks, just like his Naruto. This was...peculiar. How could this be their son when the newborn was just right here, in his arms again? This wasn't making sense. Unless that bastard Uchiha was trying to trick him and goad him into another rage again. Probably a well planned genjutsu, too._

_These angry thoughts were halted by the Kyuubi._

"_**No, Minato. That...boy. It's not a genjutsu. I can sense something in him. It's my own power, definitely. He carries your scent and your mate's. There is no lie in that small boy, however, it is possible that Uchiha bastard brought him here unwillingly."**__ Kyuubi replied, pausing as he was gathering his thoughts. __**"I can sense that he is not of this...time. It may sound farfetched, but his presence equals that of your newborn kit. It is one in the same, but he may have been summoned, ripped out of his own time by that man. If you remember, he mentioned something about having a 'new' Kyuubi Jinchuriki. This kid might be it."**_

_This made Minato pause for a quick second. _'...I can't even wrap my head around this. You're saying this is my son, or my would-be son?' _Did that mean his son was also a Jinchuriki, too?_

"_**That's exactly what I'm saying, Minato. Use your head, boy. You're much smarter than this. Because I can sense my own presence within him, it may cause an imbalance to the Elemental Nations. There's a way for it to balance it out."**__ Minato waited silently for the bijuu to continue, giving him a mental nod. __**"You need to modify your seal into filtering my chakra to merge with yours. This will essentially 'kill' me as my powers will be yours to command at will, including that form you take, as well as heightening your senses. But I will cease to exist in this body. You and I will be one this way."**_

_The blond frowned at that, but nodded regardless. If it would thwart the Uchiha's plans, whatever they are, and keep the world balanced then he'd do it. For his village, for the world and for the friend that had been sealed inside him since he was nine years old. He looked at Kushina one more time, their eyes met for the final time. Both whispered their love for another before the woman he loved so much closed her eyes and succumbed to death. She left with no regrets and while he would find time to mourn for her death, he would have no regrets either. _

_Minato unraveled a sealing scroll from his pocket and sealed up his wife's lifeless body. He would prepare a proper burial for her when this whole mess was over. Right now, he and Kyuubi had a man to defeat and another half of him to deal with._

-**End Flashback**-

When he arrived closer towards the gates of Konoha, he saw several shinobi and kunoichi of the Leaf using all they had to defend the village and keep the monster at bay. Flames erupted everywhere as the controlled Kyuubi fired off fire breath and other attacks to destroy the humans that dared to challenge it. The masked man that was causing his life hell at the moment was standing atop the monstrosity like a tamer and his lion. It made both the remaining Kyuubi in him and Minato growl angrily.

"Kyuubi, I'm going to adjust the seal now," he said. He didn't care if he was speaking aloud now; nobody else was around anyway.

"**Hm, it would do to do it quickly. From that last extraction, or partially, it took more than half of your spiritual chakra with it. The only reason you're still standing is because of me and the interference of your wife's sacrifice."**

Minato closed his eyes while he knelt down. Gently, he set down both his newborn son and his son of a parallel time, if going by what Kyuubi had told him, on the ground, making sure they were as comfortable as possible. This was going to be awkward. '_Two Uzumaki Naruto running around..._' He thought absentmindedly before returning to focus. The Fourth Hokage took a deep breath and began flashing through a specific set of signs. During this, the intricate containment seal adorned on his chest began to glow, corresponding to the hand seals being made.

"Kyuubi, before I do this, I want to say thank you. We had a rocky start, and our relationship at best is just good friends right now. But, if it hadn't been for you, I may not be here right now. You've given me power, and there were times I wanted to rely on it. We've proven to be a compatible team, and if I could have my way, I'd remain your host for a long time until I died." Minato said with a genuine smile on his face. The fox demon stared at him from his mindscape. The Fourth knew he was fighting the urge to be embarrassed. The Kyuubi was literally a mass of hatred and anger, but Minato had proven to the Nine-Tails that there was more than hatred out there.

He showed the fox companionship, kindness and even showered the demon with thanks and praise whenever he could. Minato was a humble man. He was proud of a lot of things, but knew where most of the credit belonged to.

"**Don't be getting sentimental with me, brat."** The Kyuubi said, though it wasn't with malice this time. It sounded as if the fox was...happy about this.

"I mean it, though. Thank you for everything, and please, watch over my son."

"**...Mm, you're planning on transferring or sealing my other half to your newborn son?"**

"Yes. This way, if I am targeted again for containing you, there won't be any repercussions. Since the remainder of my spiritual chakra will merge with you, anyone who senses it will believe me to be you, or at least still contain you within me except without the containment seal applied." The older blond stated factually. "He won't be targeted like I will."

"**Hm, what about your other brat?"**

Minato looked down at the sleeping form of his...future son. It was true that this boy housed the Kyuubi as well because, as a container himself, one that also housed the same chakra monster, he had sensed its presence. Once Minato absorbed the half of the fox that resided in him, it would still be a tad imbalanced. But, nothing too major if there were one and a half Kyuubi in the world. It hadn't rolled over and died yet so perhaps it would be all right to let the boy from the parallel time keep his tenant.

"He will keep it. Who knows how long they have been together? If they possibly have a close relationship like we have, I don't want to risk upsetting that bond and driving them away," the Fourth Hokage explained.

At the moment, he had no idea how right he was.

Minato kept his eyes on both of his sons. It was starting to get a little confusing with both of them there, but at the same time, he knew he would get used to it. To him, it didn't matter where the other Naruto came from; he would care for him like his newborn son all the same.

"**Good plan, kid. Well then, Namikaze Minato. It's been a pleasure spending time with you for these long, twelve years. Use my power well, brat. Don't disappoint."**

"I will, my friend." Minato finished the last hand signs and pressed his left hand upon his chest. "Seal!"

The containment seal lit up, first in white than it turned a dark shade of grey before going completely black. It flashed all around his body, marking him similarly to his Bijuu mode from before. He could feel the effects of the chakra filtering, he could feel the fox's signature merging with his own. It started to tingle then the pain trickled up throughout his body and he started panting. He couldn't breathe, for whatever reason. It stopped and his lungs felt like they were on fire! He tried to grasp for air, but nothing would enter and the heat kept exploding in random spasms. Kami, was he going to die? No, no he wasn't. There was a faint, low voice of the Kyuubi reassure him that this was mostly normal of a reaction and that he would be fine in a few moments. The blond toughed it out as much as he could, teeth clenched and eyes shut tight. Sweat of frustration and exhaustion beaded down his face, down his forehead and nose and dripped off as he concentrated on the end. It didn't take long for the filter seal to complete itself, and Minato felt relieved once it settled. He hungrily inhaled the much needed oxygen that his body craved. When the couple of moments passed, the now ex-Jinchuriki centralized his gaze to the half-sized Kyuubi laying waste to the area around him. Minato frowned.

He would have to stop the other half of his friend, even if it had to be with his life.

Just as he was about to pick up his sons, the older one began to stir. He paused for just a moment, watching in a dazed fascination as the little six-year-old child began to open his startling, if not similar, blue eyes.

* * *

-Several Hours Earlier-

* * *

Naruto was sure he was on his way to the afterlife after that bright light engulfed him and his pair of Kurama. Really, it had to be the only explanation. He had read one time that people would claim they "see the light" upon death before passing away. Perhaps this was that light? But, it was odd, really. He could actually _feel_ it on his person. Wasn't his body like intangible or something? He couldn't figure it out.

But, imagine the shock on his face when his descent, or ascent—whatever—halted because of a spiraling vortex in the way. "The hell?" He blinked, wondering what it was. It felt weird, but who knows? Maybe this is what happens to spirits when they depart? For all he knew, this was probably normal. "You know, Kurama, er both of you. That spiral up there looks eerily familiar to that damn Madara-teme's Kamui technique." He laughed when he said that. "I mean, come on. The afterlife wouldn't have things like that, would it?"

"**Kit... We don't know what the afterlife holds, but that...****_thing_**** isn't one of them."** Yin Kurama said, feeling a tad shudder running up his spine.

"**It feels like an unnatural disturbance. Like someone is trying to summon your soul using a technique."** the Yang half informed as sagely as possible. The former Rokudaime frowned at that. He hadn't been dead for a while, or how long has it been anyway? Whatever, the point was, he felt he hadn't been dead for long and now someone was already trying to pull his soul from the afterlife to revive him. Or reincarnate him using the Impure World Reincarnation summoning.

"Ugh, really? I thought I banned that summoning jutsu. Hell, I _burned_ every knowledge of it that could be in existence using Matatabi's fire!"

The darker, Yin half of Kurama hummed in thought before saying, **"You're forgetting one person: Orochimaru."**

Silence.

"I thought that teme changed. He _did_ arrive on the battlefield during the war and helped out. Well, he had to be there because he used that to revive the other Hokage and my dad." Naruto sighed exasperatedly, running a hand through his spiky hair. Even in death, he couldn't get a break, could he? "This is making me have a headache." Then again, was it possible to get headaches here when you're dead? "Even so, I can break out of the reincarnation control easily anyway."

Whatever was on the other side of the wanna-be Kamui technique, Naruto was ready to pound some sense into his summoner. Well, first he'd thank them for summoning him back 'alive', kick their ass, visit his friends one more time before reverse summoning his soul back to the afterlife. Sounds like a plan to him! With his foxy grin, the blond said:

"Get ready, whoever you are. The former Rokudaime Hokage of Konohagakure, Number One Unpredictable Ninja Uzumaki Naruto is gonna hand your ass to you and kick it to next week and back!"

Both Kurama's, used to the silliness of their ex-host, couldn't help but let out an aggravated sigh.

The blond-haired nineteen year old former Hokage wasn't expecting this. One minute he was drifting off in this world of light—if it could be called that—then the fake Kamui vortex sucked him and the Kurama within it. Then, he woke up in an all-too-familiar room. Well, it wasn't a room per se. It was a dark, gray dimension filled with blocked pillars all around him. When he thought this was a Kamui, he was...right. He was right! Fuck, he was _right_! Of all the bad things that could happen...

"This isn't the Impure World Reincarnation summoning jutsu..." he said, just to confirm it for himself. No. He was in a flipping dimension that only those with a Mangekyo Sharingan could hope to create using the kami-forsaken Kamui technique. Well, it had its uses but still was annoying going against it.

A deep chuckle emitted from...everywhere. Then it was gone. Naruto was instantly on edge, getting into his favorite fighting stance. But as he tried to do that, he tripped over his clothes! Wait, over his own clothes? "What the?" The blond gasped, now noticing how unmanly his voice was. It sounded like when he was about five or six years old. He sat up from his fall, noticing that his clothes were thrice his puny size. His sandals were way too big and his hard earned jonin vest and hokage coat puddled over him like waves. The hitai-ate with the kanji "shinobi" on it fell over his head comically, very similar to how Kakashi-sensei wore his. He felt his face, noticing the return of the awful baby fat he had. Man, he had gotten rid of the evidence when he turned eighteen! His hair was as spiky as usual, though there were small, tell-tale signs of his side bangs growing a little. At least he had _something_ of his old appearance with him.

"Damn it, I'm a runt again!" Naruto wailed angrily. That means he would have to go through puberty again. Wrestling around in his pile of oversized clothes—crying mentally about not being able to wear his hokage coat until he grew up again—the now six-year-old boy arranged his attire until it wasn't sagging off him so much. He had to tear his orange-red shirt until the sleeves didn't completely cover his hands. After that, he had to make do with his large pants, balling them up as much as possible and using the string adjuster to pull them forward as far as they would go. He rolled up the pant legs until he could see a little of his feet. Kami, he had to roll up so much of the fabric.

Next, he simply threw on his too-big-for-him jonin vest with his old Konoha hitai-ate that Iruka-sensei gave him still stitched on. There was _no_ way he was going to abandon this. This was physical proof of his rank before becoming the Hokage in his home village. His hokage coat, he decided to pull out a scroll that he kept on his person (even in death—"you never know when you'll need them!" He reasoned.) and sealed it in there. Hah, as if he'd leave that bad boy here. Lastly, his Shinobi hitai-ate; he adjusted it until it was around his forehead again. The fabric used to stitch the metal plate onto it covered his eyebrows some, and if he looked up without tilting his head, he could see the material with his eyes. Funny. His sandals...he wasn't even going to bother with those.

"Okay, I think that's it. But now I've to figure out how to get out of here."

"**Hm...try your Six Paths Sage mode, kit. Perhaps it'll form a wormhole to escape to."** One of the Kurama advised. It was kind of hard to tell which one spoke or not. They were the same being, just split apart. Now that he thought about it, why weren't they merged yet?

'_All right, I'll try that but is there any reason why you two haven't merged into one fox yet?_'

There was a small pause before one of them spoke up again. **"It's not that we don't want to. Naruto, your chakra as the Yang half of our creator is keeping us separated."**

'_Oh._' Well, he felt dumb. '_All right, let's do this._' Naruto stayed as still as he could. Even though he didn't have the other tailed beasts within him, he had their chakra. Combining that with his senjutsu, he was able to unlock the Six Paths mode. A little while of finding the natural energy rather scarce in this dimension or nonexistent, Naruto stopped trying to channel it. It was no use if he couldn't feel the natural energy at all. He forgot that being trapped in a Kamui could do that.

'_Ugh. Okay, let's try Bijuu mode instead._' he thought.

"**Hey kit, I think you should wait—" **the Yang half tried but the boy either didn't hear him or was too busy concentrating.

Feeling the combined chakra of him and the pair of Kurama emitting throughout his person, Naruto's form changed dramatically. His entire body was coated in a soft, warm orange-golden glow. His hair shifted and two 'strands' stood up to form fox-like ears. The cloak gave him the return of his chakra coat and his clothes transformed into the dark "body suit" he was used to seeing. His eyes were a deep crimson, echoing his connection with the Kurama duo.

The entire dimension around him was bathed in the light.

"Okay! Going to blast this place with a Bijuu Rasengan!" Naruto grinned, preparing to do just that. He began gathering the necessary chakra to do so when suddenly his form flickered out without his doing, the forming Rasengan also dispelled. Wait, what? Naruto did a very good impression of a gaping fish out of its fish bowl when a couple of seconds of standing there like an idiot passed by.

"AAHHH! What happened!?" The mini sized Naruto bellowed in disbelief.

"**Kit...did you forget? Your chakra control at this age was abysmal. Atrocious, even. You'll have to build up the control again if you want to maintain that form. The best you can go is version one of the Bijuu mode. Version two is too much for you at this point."** the Yin half advised, chuckling when he relayed the news to his tiny, ex-host. Both Kurama found great amusement in the boy's rage and indignation, watching him from within his mindscape stomp around and pout like a little kid again. Wait, he was a little kid again. This was becoming even more confusing as this went on. At least the kid was acting his supposed age.

Naruto, however, was seething. He couldn't get into his favorite bijuu mode anymore and now that he had a moment to think about it, his Six Paths mode would have probably flunked out on him too, just because of his chakra control being next to nonexistent now that his body was reduced to the size and age of a squirt.

Damn it, this was frustrating. The boy dropped down to the ground and groaned irritably. '_If this couldn't get any worse!_' He thought bitterly.

"Hello, Kyuubi Jinchuriki of the future."

Okay, screw what he thought earlier. It just got worse. Naruto scrambled up, looking each way for the mysterious, eerie voice that spoke to him. Or, he thought it spoke to him. He was the only one here, except for the pair of foxes in his gut. His blue eyes scanned his perimeter, keeping his tiny hands in position of his base to strike. Thankfully, he could still use his chakra to sense other things around, but other than that, he'd have to relearn to tree- and water- walking again. '_Who was that? That voice doesn't sound familiar at all. But why am I getting this dreaded feeling?_'

"**Stay alert, kit."**

"**Something's here."**

Both Kurama advised simultaneously, which the boy took for himself. Eyes scanning the place, stepping around to make sure he was covered, he flashed through the well known signs for the Kage Bunshin jutsu. Five Naruto clones popped up, surrounding the Boss, their senses kept open for anything suspicious. The original Naruto was in the center of them all, trying to utilize his advanced sensory abilities, but irritably found them hard to control. He growled in frustration once again before returning to the basics. It was all he could do now until he got out of here and trained.

"My, my... The Kage Bunshin already? And you're very young, too. It appears the world you came from are training you to become a weapon." The creepy voice spoke again. Naruto and his clones turned to the direction of the voice, but found nobody.

"I'm not being molded to a weapon by my village, whoever you are!" He shot back, then stopped when he overheard the words "the world you came from". Came from? His world? Wasn't he summoned to somewhere? Well, he's obviously in this Kamui dimension, but...

"...Wait, what do you mean 'the world you came from'?"

The voice chuckled again, this time, Naruto could sense ill intent from it. He grimaced. When people begin to laugh evilly or chuckle darkly, it usually meant 'guess what, shit's about to hit the fan now!' to him. Every situation that it happened, he'd get hurt by it or someone would lose their life. It was a kami awful omen.

"As I said before, hello Kyuubi Jinchuriki of the future," the person's voice was dangerously close now. Naruto and his clones turned to find a man wearing a black cloak with the dark blue cloud pattern. That was peculiar, but... Oh kami, not this again. The blond's eyes trailed up to see the familiar, swirling orange mask. Except, there were two eye holes and not just one. The man's hair wasn't short like it had been like Obito's; in fact the hair colors were different. This guy's hair was a dark-brown color, and his bangs were over the mask a little. Whoever this was, it wasn't Uchiha Obito. No, it was someone else, in the guise of Tobi.

Fuck. This just got a lot worse.

"Who are you!?" Naruto shouted out, leaping back. Future? He...was from the future? How was that possible?

Without bothering to answer the question, the wanna-be Tobi simply stared down at the boy with his activated Sharingan. "The Tasogare [1] have been studying powerful summoning techniques with some helpful...allies. The result is that we would bring a being from another parallel time to ours. There was no way we could get our hands on the Kyuubi Jinchuriki of our time, so we had to settle for...other reasons. Which is why you are here, boy."

It took a while for the information to sink in. They couldn't get to the host of the Kyuubi in their time? Was it because they died while holding the bijuu in? Was this person well hidden or well protected? Or maybe it was someone too strong for the organization to overpower?

He didn't realize just how close his last thought was.

"Now, child. You will come with me. I have many plans and it involves the beast that currently sleeps inside you. Don't worry...I'll make it as _painless_ as possible."

Naruto wasn't sure about that and he wasn't about to stay here and find out.

"No way! You're not taking the fox away from me!" All the Naruto's including the original got into their stance, all their blue eyes narrowed. "You can try, but we won't let you! Boys, let's get busy!"

"Hai!" the clones chanted and then all six of them dove straight for the masked man. One of the Naruto clones lunged at fast punch to the Uchiha, but it was caught by him. A second one took this chance to kick the bastard's head. Unfortunately, the Tobi-phony dodged that. The clone went far but flipped to readjust himself back on solid ground before he fell off the edge. The third and fourth clones were preparing a combined assault attack whilst charging forward. The man was preparing to dodge, only for the clones he had previously blocked and dodged held him in place as best as they could.

"Take this!" the pair of clones shouted, slamming their fists into the man's gut. Immediately after, the original Naruto slammed down on the man's head, pounding him to the ground. He and the clones jumped away from him, waiting to see if he would get up. That was some teamwork they pulled off. A small sign of a smirk were spreading on their equally identical faces. It seemed like it had effect, but the man simply laughed it off and stood up as if he had been hit by a water balloon. What?

"Mm...yes, you have potential, Jinchuriki. And now that I got a good look at you, I know _exactly_ who you are. Or will be. You will be mine soon, boy." Naruto and his clones shuddered at that comment. Was this guy a pedophile, too? They got ready to attack again but it all came too fast. At least, it would have been too fast if he wasn't paying attention. He wasn't the Hokage, er former Hokage, for nothing! The clones were first to defend and lash out with their own swarm of attacks, throwing punches and kicks since they couldn't really do any jutsu to save themselves.

Unfortunately for the clones, the man simply sent them all packing with a single kick. The clones all popped from the impact. Naruto cringed when the memories of the kage bunshins returned to him. He couldn't sit there and think about it for long until the pedo-Tobi lunged at him.

Naruto dodged the man's oncoming kick, and blocked his fist by shielding his face with his arms. An audible crack was heard and Naruto was sure his fragile little bones had just snapped. Their dodging dance was over quick when the man sped up to the flinching child and pounded the boy fist first into the back of his head. Naruto gasped out in surprise when the blow came and his eyes fluttered. He landed to the ground with a harsh thud, fading into unconsciousness. As he lied there, the Tobi-fake reviewed the child.

'_He's strong, very strong. He was able to enter a cloak form that was different from the norm. However, due to his atrocious chakra capabilities, he couldn't maintain it for long. Can also perform the Kage Bunshin jutsu with ease and was able to keep up with me for a while. Heheh, yes, he would be a valuable asset to the Tasogare. I'll have to arrange a revival after extracting the beast from him. But first, I want to visit my _favorite _village... Konohagakure._'

* * *

With Minato

1:58 am

* * *

Naruto groaned as he finally was coming to. His head hurt, like he had been hit with one of Sakura's powered punches. The blond was slowly opening his eyes, but it hurt to get them to focus. He felt the pair of foxes also coming to within his mindscape. '_Ugh, that bastard did that. When I get my hands on that—!_' He stopped his rant when he heard a sharp intake of breath that didn't belong to him. Who?

"...N-Naruto...?"

The boy blinked a few times, quickly clearing the daze he had been in moments ago. Above him, it was dark; it was the sky, with the twinkling stars and the faded clouds decorating its canvas. It must be night time. The voice that called to him seemed shaky, as if it were testing his name for the first time. He stretched his arms first before using them to help himself sit up. He rubbed his eyes, still trying to adjust to the darkness. Sure, he could see in the dark, but not without borrowing Kurama's assistance. The grass beneath him was soft to his bare feet which was a welcoming feeling. The night air felt good to him, the scent of the grass, the forest around and fire.

Wait, fire?

Naruto scrambled to stand up to his feet in a heartbeat. His head turned every which way in its panic, searching for the fire that took over his sense of smell. His cerulean blue eyes found the source and they widened in complete shock. There were large fires and explosions in the distance, but the distinct creature that was currently causing such a mayhem was the Kyuubi no Kitsune. What? Several ninja met the beast head on, trying their damndest to slow it down or redirect the attacks to somewhere else than the village. It was a futile attempt, Naruto knew, but those people—_his_ people—were fighting with all they had.

"...What? I don't...understand..." He mumbled out.

"**Kit... I believe... that man must have been telling the truth."** One of the Kurama said, having seen the destruction with his own eyes from within the mindscape.

"**And if he was right, then we're in the past. Somehow. And given how that other...us is over there wrecking malicious havoc on the humans, this must be the day you were born."** The second Kurama added.

'_If that's true...then... Oh kami. But, why haven't I winked out of existence yet? Or like, not in a baby form or something?_'

"**It may be due to the fact you—we were—pulled out of the afterlife's stream by that vortex. Then that man that appeared to be Tobi informed us that this group called the Tasogare had been experimenting on different, more potent, summons." **The first Kurama spoke once more. Again, it was hard for Naruto to differentiate between who was talking unless he actually went into his mindscape and saw them. Oh well, wasn't important right now. Seeing the kit was listening again, Yin Kurama—the one that had been talking—continued. **"To what I'm understanding about our situation, it looks like we were purposefully dragged out of our time and into this time, the past. He called you the 'Kyuubi Jinchuriki of the future'. Now, we're seeing the same events unfold before us. That means that other Kyuubi over there must be in the control of that damned Uchiha called Tobi."**

'_It's hard to grasp this but... but there's no other way. But I have a feeling that the Tobi we met in that Kamui dimension wasn't Uchiha Obito._' When he had the twin bijuu's attention, Naruto went on. '_Like, I can remember specific chakra signatures. I remember Obito's when he fought with us in the last war. When I sensed that man's chakra, it felt nothing like Kakashi-sensei's old friend. In fact, it felt more like...a twisted combination of Itachi's and Sasuke's chakra._' The duo Kyuubi of the future paused when they heard this. Both of those Uchiha were...trustworthy, albeit the latter had to strive through many obstacles in order for Kurama to accept him and trust him with his kit. However, if that man's signature was a mixture of theirs, but twisted—no, then this man was _not_ Uchiha Obito. It had to be another damned one.

'_Regardless, this doesn't change anything. I have my chance to make this right and I'm not going to let my dad sacrifice himself again!_' Naruto thought with finality.

"**Then you might want to take your chance and turn around, kit."** Yang Kurama notified him. Naruto was about to ask why when he obeyed the fox's words. He stopped for moment, eyes agape as he drunk in the sight of the person standing there behind him.

It...It was the Yondaime, the Fourth Hokage. The Fourth, Namikaze Minato... his father. His _father_! He was... he was alive, still alive, he meant. His blue eyes practically absorbed the image of his living, _breathing_ parental figure, watching the man as he only stared back with confusion in his equally mimicked blue orbs. This... This was too good to be true, right? '_If this is a genjutsu, or a dream or this is really the afterlife, let it get better and never wake me up._' Naruto thought again. His heart was racing at the sight of the man. It wasn't long until he noticed the Yondaime had a bundle secured protectively in his arms.

Naruto, with his eyes, traced over the infant in the older blond's grasp and already knew that was him. That was the baby version of him. Kami, this was getting even more complicated than it should. Staring in disbelief, excitement, wonder, sadness and finally joy, the boy from the future met his father's gaze once again, noticing how the Yondaime returned the scrutinizing glance.

"Naruto..." He heard his father call him. His voice was filled with uncertainty in it now, like he wasn't sure if that was his name or not. But the Hokage was looking right at _him_ and not his baby self. Naruto, by instinct, flinched but kept his eyes on Konoha's Yellow Flash; it was his way of saying he acknowledged the call. Now that he saw his father, Naruto was sure, for sure, that he was in the past. Even if he was stuck in a midget's body, he would grow up again and be ready. There was a lot of things he needed to plan for, and one of them was saving his parents from dying needlessly. He turned his attention back to the burning forests around Konoha. He was definitely going to change things for the better.

He wouldn't allow a war to happen. He wouldn't allow his parents to sacrifice themselves and imprison the angriest bijuu in his—or his younger self's—gut. He would prevent Sasuke from falling into darkness and going to Orochimaru. Regardless if the snake-teme turned a new leaf in the old life, he didn't have to like him. He could save Itachi from killing his own clan. There was a lot of things he needed to do and keep the Akatsuki, if they were still a criminal organization, from taking the Jinchuriki of this time. And he had the power of his partner with him, too.

Hm, before he went off for that, he couldn't leave the Fourth hanging there, staring at him as if he were made of glass and trying his best to look through him. Gazing back to the Yondaime, the boy gave off his trademark foxy smile, Naruto said two words that would flip Namikaze Minato's life around forever:

"Hey Dad."

* * *

Thank you to those who faved, added and reviewed this story. Gosh, it gave me a heart attack when I saw so many FFN notifications in my email inbox today. I hope you are enjoying the story so far; I'm enjoying writing it.

[1] Tasogare. It means "dusk, twilight" in Japanese. It's the opposite of the meaning of Akatsuki, which is "dawn". In this story, it's an organization that takes the place of the criminal Akatsuki. Don't worry; the peaceful, original Akatsuki will make their appearance. Just not right now. The S-rank missing-nin from the criminal Akatsuki will be in the Tasogare instead.

Pairings. Probably none, except the Naruto/Hinata one. Maybe. The older Naruto won't be paired with anyone, though. Also, warning you all; I'm bringing an anime-exclusive female Uchiha into this story, to be about future Naruto's age. Her name's Uchiha Naori, one that hasn't fallen to the Curse of Hatred. Look her up if you can.

Next chapter will complete this one; sealing of the Kyuubi, introducing Obito and Kakashi, oyako moments and older Naruto will get a new name. (Like with most of the Minato/Naruto time travel fics I've seen) No worries; the name I've chosen for the future Naruto will make a lot of sense.

Until next time~


	3. Fugue

**AN:** My apologies for the multiple Kyuubi thing being confusing. It was mostly for my own amusement to confuse Naruto, but it'll end this chapter, promise. Please note; Naruto (the older one) will not be OP. He's strong, yes, but **not** invincible and I will down-play his abilities and progress at a leisure pace. Anyway enjoy chapter 3~

Edited: 8/14/2014

* * *

Fugue

3

* * *

"Hey Dad."

The Fourth Hokage's world just flipped entirely.

Namikaze Minato slightly flinched at the affectionate name that was directed at him. No, it wasn't because he feared it or upset at it. It felt very foreign, but at the same time, it brought a separate emotion to his attention; it was joy and pride. Strange, though. He wasn't expecting the six-year-old version of what was his son to reply to the name, but now that he did—and actually called him "dad"—there was no denying it now. This little kid was his and Kushina's boy, somehow he was. He looked just like the infant in his arms albeit a few years older. Now that his whirling mind was adapting to the situation, he realized what Kushina meant before she drew her last breath. She knew who this boy was when she saw him. And he promised her that he would take care of both of them.

That included the little boy in front of him. This didn't make the situation any better because it hadn't truly clicked for the Yondaime.

"...Y-you're... Naruto?" He asked incredulously, just wanting to be absolutely sure that his newly acquired fatherly instincts were leading him in the right direction.

"Uh...yeah?" the older Naruto replied, though it wasn't in a tone that he was unsure of himself. "I kind of have to be. It's... a little weird, huh?" The boy smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head bashfully. That was something Minato would do, and the Fourth Hokage recognized it.

Minato let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and shook out of his mild daze. He was about to say something else when the shrieking roar of the half-sized Kyuubi raged in the distance. It got both of the blonds' attention and their reaction was quick. Naruto flinched and Minato narrowed his eyes. "I have to stop that man that is controlling the Kyuubi," the Yondaime said as he walked up to his future son. The little boy nodded in agreement, which the older blond noted silently. Did he understand the occurring problem? Hm, well, he wouldn't let the boy get himself involved. Dang it, the overprotective father mode was already working and he had only been one for a few hours. What a mess.

"Naruto, I'm going to transport the both of you to another one of my safe houses in the mean time. I don't want either of you getting hurt."

Blue eyes widened in shock as the six-year-old turned to him. "What? But Dad!"

"No buts. This is serious, Naruto." Minato lightly scolded, already sounding like a father and felt himself get older by a few years when it'd only been a few minutes.

"I know, but—!" He didn't get a chance to finish as his father easily scooped him up and performed the Hiraishin. Seconds later, they were inside a small room with an average sized bed, a few windows, a medium sized drawer and a large rug on the floor. Minato carefully placed the infant Naruto onto the bed and then the older one, who was currently pouting, beside him. If the situation hadn't been so serious as it was, the Hokage was sure he'd find this scene very adorable.

"I need you to stay here. This is the safest place for you right now, the both of you. It'll give me assurance to know you're both safe."

"..." Naruto lowered his head and frowned. He didn't like this but he had to agree with his father. The man was justifiably worried. The older Naruto looked up as he noticed his father grab a few of his special kunai from the drawer, a rather chilling, cold expression matted on the older blond's face. Minato looked kind of scary now that Naruto saw it first hand. No wonder his father's enemies were wary of him when they saw him on the battlefield. Minato carried himself calmly despite the predicament and the future boy could sense his determination, anger and sadness all at once. Why was his father feeling sad? What happened? Wait, where was Kushina, his mother? Was she all right? Naruto didn't get a chance to voice his question because Minato had already used the Hirashin and left. Dang, he really wanted to know.

Naruto looked over to his younger self, who was sleeping peacefully despite the danger. His blue eyes couldn't look away from this fragile, innocent little baby that used to be him. Fresh and new to the world. The infant was untainted and not holding the Kyuubi within him, and yet...today was the day his father would sacrifice himself to seal the beast inside his son and die. He couldn't let that happen. He wasn't here by choice, having been dragged out of his dimension or wherever, but now that he was in this time, he wasn't going anywhere until things were right. Naruto knew he wasn't a god and that every change he would eventually make would lead down a different path. Nevertheless, he would try his hardest to fix the wrongs that he experienced and right them. There was so much but he'd have to start by taking a few steps at a time.

The first step was preventing the Yondaime from dying. Tsunade-baachan did tell him that his father had died too young. He'd be damned if he allowed the same crap happen again.

Smiling sadly, Naruto leaned over and picked up his younger self, carefully, making sure the blanket was still wrapped around him. He stared at the sleeping baby and traced one of his fingers into his blond locks. He was so warm, so tiny that the six-year-old didn't want to let go. This was him, this bundle of joy that most likely lit his parents' lives up the moment they saw him. A wave of over-protectiveness swarmed around Naruto; he wouldn't let this child go without a family. Not again, not this time. He wouldn't allow it while he was here. "Hey, hey, Naru-chan. You're so adorable, you know? I won't let anything bad happen to you. You will have a family to love you because I'm going to make sure you do." The snoozing infant let out a cute yawn before settling back into dreamland, unaware his future self was talking to him.

Naruto of the future started thinking a little about the predicament, at least, the problem of it all. He already adapted that he was in the past, but he couldn't get over the fact that he was a pipsqueak again. How did that happen? He was—well he felt like he was still nineteen. In his mindscape, he took on his older self's appearance. The personification of his mind echoed his real age. Did the summoning technique cause his body to change? '_Maybe it was incomplete or something. That creepy pedo said they were using them and stuff._' He thought.

Unfortunately, a random spasm of small tremors shook the place a little, shaking Naruto out of his train of thoughts and putting him on instant alert. Those tremors eventually turned into heavy quakes, as if something enormous had just crashed into the ground nearby. The safe house both Naruto were in began to crumble little by little; even the walls and the roof began caving in! Naruto reacted quickly and dove to the left, taking his infant self with him. He escaped just in time as the part of the roof had fallen on the spot he had just occupied, crashing into the bed. More of the safe house's canopy was crumbling due to the tremors and quakes outside. Thanking kami for his ninja training and skills—even if they were down-played because of his shrunken age and size—Naruto was able to maneuver out of the way when another chunk of the ceiling collapsed.

Dust and debris were circulating the small room, covering the floor around them. The future blond grimaced when he felt his feet come in contact with sharp, discarded rocks when he stepped forward or back to avoid being flattened by the shattering roof remains. He yelped when he stepped on another he didn't see. This prompted the newborn Naruto to subconsciously sense the uneasiness of his older self's pain and cry.

Cursing silently to himself, Naruto dashed from his current position, just as more of the roof toppled over, and rushed towards the nearest corner. He didn't have the chakra control to use the shunshin jutsu to escape. His only resource was to stay in one spot, preferably the corner he was occupying and remain still. For the moment, he wouldn't let his baby self get hurt. He crouched down, hunching over his younger self as a means of using his own body to shield him. Trying to evoke a small portion of his chakra into his body to toughen it up was a smart idea, but it didn't have much effect. The walls around them shook violently as another quake vibrated underneath. Cracks formed in the structure, a heavy note that this place wouldn't last for long.

The infant's cries were getting to Naruto but he held firm as lumps of the already failing rooftop fell onto his back. He shut his eyes as he bit back a sharp cry and tears that bubbled up in his vocals as more collapsed over him. Naruto kept his younger self close to him, trying to calm him with soft "shh's" and rubs to the baby's back. Even though he was a ninja at heart, and still was, his new, shrimpy body was out of shape. It couldn't endure pain like he could with his older body and size. If he got out of this situation, Naruto was going to make sure to train himself. The new body's limitations were unacceptable to him. Opening his eyes, he noticed the wailing child also did as well, his chubby little face red with frustration. Their identical blue eyes found the other's, except the younger had hot tears rolling down his innocent face and the older was fighting back his own because of the pain.

"Shh, Naruto... Don't worry. I'll make sure we're safe, okay...?" He whispered gently to the newborn. For some reason, his voice had some effect as the infant's wails were slowly reduced to sniffles and tiny hiccups.

"**He is you, kit. You're both the same person, just in two selves, much like we are. So it's possible he's responding to your voice because he could be subconsciously aware it's his own comforting him."** one of the Kurama noted. Naruto gave up trying to figure out which one spoke; he figured it was the Yin half but he couldn't be certain about that.

'_Hm, that's possible. Well, then I guess I'll have to talk to him more if I want him to remain quiet, or semi-quiet and hushed. This whole dimension thing is weird._'

"**No doubt about that."**

Before the conversation could further itself, Naruto felt the rough tremors violently rock the ground again and the sound of something heavier crumble above him. He looked up and saw the largest hunk of the roof coming right for him. He couldn't dodge that, at least, not in this body. '_I'm going to die..._' He thought. '_Again._' Bracing himself for the worst and wishing this was just a horrible dream—never mind that his father was still alive. It would be moot if he couldn't be with him if he was dead, both versions of him. '_This isn't fair._' Naruto shut his eyes, waiting for the impact. It didn't come though; instead, a familiar chakra signature that interrupted it and whisked them both of them away in a brilliant flash.

* * *

'_Dad!_' Was Naruto's instant thought as blinked and shot his head up. The older blond had him and his younger self in his grasp and they were standing outside, many miles away from Konoha with the now out-of-control Kyuubi not too far from them. There was a large barrier erected around the area with just the two of them and the beast. He had warped them away just in time!

"...Dad..."

"Naruto, are you both alright?"

Taking a second to let out a deep breath of relief, the future boy nodded his head.

"Good. I'm glad." Minato smiled, also in relief. He set the six-year-old down but took the infant from him. "I'm sorry Naruto, but there's something I must do."

"W—? Huh?" the future blond blinked curiously. It was just a moment's pass that his mind adapted to the surroundings and saw the ceremonial alter where Minato placed the baby version of himself onto it. The Fourth then unraveled the baby's blanket, exposing his stomach where he placed the all-too-familiar seal of the Hakke no Fuin Shiki (Eight Trigrams Sealing Style) upon the babe. Minato stood in front of it, preparing for the final seal that would take his life. As he started flashing through the signs to summon the Shinigami, the Kyuubi, noticing this, roared and started charging for them.

Minato hurriedly summoned Gamabunta, the Toad chief, upon the charging fox. Noticing the blond's desperation of the summon, and the reason why, the enormous toad promptly used as much force as possible to keep the beast subdued. The Fourth kept a serious expression but was internally panicking. Bunta wouldn't be able to hold off the angered Nine-Tails for long, which quickened his pace to finish. Just before he released the last sign, he was tackled. This abruptness forced him to stop channeling chakra into his hand signs and interrupted the summoning technique, too.

"No!" the little blond that was the source of his interruption shouted angrily. "I won't let you do that!"

Minato gasped, blinking in surprise from both the shove and bluntness of his future son's words. "N-Naruto...?!"

"I said I'm _not_ letting you do that! Never again!" The future boy growled out. "You're not... you're not going to kill yourself just to seal the Kyuubi away!" That, and he wouldn't just sit there and watch it happen while his younger self be without his father. Their conversation was halted when the rampaging Nine-Tails shot his beastly paw towards them, specifically towards the baby Naruto. Both blonds reacted immediately.

The older Naruto and Minato jumped in the way of the attack, one of the Kyuubi's claw painfully piercing the both of them. It was not done without their conjoined howls of agony. Naruto suffered the most as the claw went straight through his back and out of his stomach whereas it struck through Minato's back and exited through his right chest. By some miracle, it didn't puncture his lung but it was damn close. The tip of the enraged fox's claw barely touched the infant.

The pair spat a wad of blood, the bitter, coppery taste unfavorable as it ran down their mouths. Their bodies convulsed from the uncomfortable position they were put in. It didn't help that they were rapidly growing weaker by the minute. Still, being able to shield the younger Naruto from harm was their purpose for carelessly thrusting themselves forward to intercept. Minato and the older Naruto hung on the Kyuub's claw like unmoving puppets, straining to breathe laboriously.

It hurt, kami, the throbbing pain hurt _so_ much. Naruto choked back the bile that was in his throat. The stinging pang of his faint whimper shook him. This agony, dare he compare, was just as painful as a forced extraction. The ache was intense. It made him want to die right then and there. Minato wasn't doing any better than he was; his vision was swimming, the colors blurring together like a child's painting that had no motive behind it. The Fourth couldn't make heads or tails of his surroundings. Everything looked jumbled and misplaced and the agonizing pain numbed him. Minato could hardly get oxygen into his lungs. Just trying to do so was a harsh chore and a half.

But the screeching cry of his newborn son snapped something in him. He burned into his resolve. He had to survive for his boy.

The Kyuubi froze just slightly when it felt two signatures like its own when it came in contact with the two he stabbed. How could this be? Some imagery in his head were trying to break through but he couldn't remember. It was hazy to the Nine-Tails. The unintended, momentary pause allowed the two blonds time to recover whatever strength they had left. Pitifully, of course.

Minato weakly looked over his shoulder, his blue eyes still full of determination, but extreme sadness. Light tears were forming out of them, but it was due to the immense pain and the fact his son from another time had also taken the hit with him. It didn't sit well with the Hokage. "...N-Naruto," his voice raspy and hoarse. "I have to... I have to use the—"

"No, n-no you... you don't. I said...what I said I meant it. You're not going to...foolishly throw your life away." His future son replied, his own voice barely above a whisper as the small boy struggled to look up and meet the saddened gaze, his breath running dangerously ragged. "I'll save you...and the other me... I p-promise, d-dattebayo!"

The similar verbal tick made Minato shudder, but in a good way. His beloved wife had normally said something like that when she was very angry or excited, and even said she hoped their child wouldn't pick up on that. Well, it seemed too late for that—Naruto seemingly inherited that through her side of genetics. The Kyuubi removed his claw from them, causing the two to collapse to the ground where a thick puddle of their mixed blood and dirt awaited them. Both wearily attempted to stand, Minato succeeding a tiny margin faster than Naruto, but it was incredibly taxing. The future blond cursed his tiny body's size.

'_H...hey. I...have an idea but... I need help channeling only the yin chakra._' Naruto thought to his tenants.

"**That was a stupid stunt you pulled off kit." **Yin Kurama growled as he scolded the boy but continued anyway. This wasn't the time nor place to reprimand his ex-host. **"We will help but what is this idea you have in mind?"**

'_Dad was about to seal that Kyuubi in the other me, right? Well, I remember Sasuke having the Yin Power of Hagoromo-dono, and that allowed a powerful sealing technique. If I can channel a lot of yin chakra, I can maybe manifest a slight portion of that and fuse it as a seal on the baby me. It'd keep and calm down the other Kyuubi much faster since he'd be sensing the Rikudo Sennin's familiar power._' He said, running the idea rapidly in his mind's eye. '_But to do that, I need to be in the Rikudo Senjutsu mode. I know my chakra control is abysmal right now, but it's the only thing I can think of. Can you guys help me?_'

There was a light pause before he got a response back. **"It's possible. There's no time to test this, Naruto, so—"**

'_I know. It's very risky but I have to try!_'

"**All right, kit. Get ready."**

Naruto panted heavily but closed his eyes as he felt the natural energy around him in great abundance. As steady and focused as he could be in such a situation, he welcomed the flow of the yang Kurama's chakra flow through him, initiating and keeping in control of the Six Paths sage mode. His entire form change lit up the surrounding area in a brilliant light. His skin wasn't glowing like it would be when he used Kurama's cloaked form, but the rest of him alighted in radiance. Long strands of his hair stood up like a flame, imitating an impression of 'horns', similar to the old sage's. His eyes were a deep, golden-yellow color than the red of the Kurama form or the orange of his Toad sage mode. A dark body suit covered his body from neck down to his legs, temporarily covering up his wounds, and stopping just before his the ankles of his feet and his fingers. A light colored long sleeved coat materialized on the boy's form, with the backside adorned in dark markings of the Rinnegan and nine magatama, and six more around his collar but only in a lighter color. Several Truth-Seeking balls also materialized and levitated around him, completing the transformation.

However, as soon as it finished, Naruto's body suddenly grew several times heavier. His breath conflicted and the pain that circulated from his previous impalement wasn't doing him any good. The intensity of the form's power was weighing him down, constricting his movements. He swore silently to himself as he felt beads of sweat beginning to roll down his face and his body started trembling as the dense power circulated through him—concrete evidence of the strain the form was having on his miniature body. He figured because of his shrunken size, the Rikudo Senjutsu wasn't compatible to it and therefore it needed more control than when he had been older—taller. All in all, it felt like he had been crushed by a large house and had been paralyzed by it. Damn.

"**Kit, I can already feel the strain it's having on you. We don't know how long we can help you maintain this form, so be quick. Your body can't handle this much of a strain for long. I estimate about two minutes maximum."**

'_That's all right. I think that's about as much time as I need anyway._'

Attempting to maintain himself, Naruto turned to his father, who was staring at him, transfixed in awe. He grinned foxily as he returned his attention to the now struggling Kyuubi. "Dad," he started, snapping the Fourth out of his stupor. His voice was still raspy but he persisted anyhow. "I'm going to seal the Kyuubi in my other self, with a different style that will no doubt be strong enough to subdue and contain him."

Minato finally took the breath that eluded him. He glanced down at the glowing form of the boy, his son, with a concerned expression. "How will you do this? The Shiki Fuin is the only seal I could find that will work against the Kyuubi." Naruto simply grinned again.

"I know what I'm doing, er going to do. Trust me, okay?" he replied. "Oh, before I forget," the future blond quickly tapped his father's chest with the palm of his hand. The Yang release activated immediately, converting into the intended healing energy. Just by using a fraction of that power, Naruto felt the drop of his chakra. Kami, he needed to hurry up before the approximated time limit ran out.

"There. Now I'll feel better about going through with this." Naruto smiled as he watched the curative power heal his father's wound. The blond Hokage would still need to see medic-nins after this as Naruto didn't have full control of this form; the best he could do was restore some of his father's chakra and heal minimally; just enough to get the man moving adequately. Getting another scold to hurry up from the Kurama pair in his gut, the smaller blond hurried off to face the Kyuubi of this time.

Looking down at his left hand, he noticed the yin chakra of the tailed beasts combined were enough to form the sealing tattoo, albeit faintly, on his palm. With Gamabunta struggling but using his all to hold down the monstrosity, Naruto knew he was running on borrowed time. Quickly, he shot towards the Nine-Tails, his left hand outstretched when it touched the beast's nose. In half of a second, the Kyuubi's eyes narrowed at the boy but widened in realization.

It...It couldn't be...the Rikudo-jiji?

Taking this as his chance, Naruto mumbled, "I'm sorry," and began manipulating the fox's enormous amount of chakra into his hands. Using his Yang release to contain the surge of potent energy, Naruto struggled to force it into a spherical shape, much like if he were forming a Rasengan. Despite being in one of his powerful forms, blood began to drip from his nose and his body began shaking weakly. He was pushing himself and the pair of Kurama were throwing out the warning that he only had a quick minute more until they couldn't power the transformation.

Once he had the full of the Kyuubi's chakra formed and the beast's solid body evaporated, he rushed back as fast as his now tired legs could carry him. The injuries of his base form were creeping back, like biting him in the ass for trying to shove them away; it was slowing him down progressively. His body flickered on and off, as if signaling it would 'shut down' and revert back. But he bit back his agony and pushed himself a little further over his limits.

It was dangerous, he knew it, but he _had_ to finish this! As soon as he got within range of his infant self, he suddenly cried out as an unknown force of excruciating pain clamped onto him like a venus flytrap. The boy fell forward, his flashing form blinking once again before it tried to stabilize. This more or less alerted Minato, who was whirling from his emotions and the overprotective father mode was going into overdrive, urging him to move.

"NARUTO!" the older blond worriedly shouted as he rushed to his future son's collapsed form. He was unsure if he could touch him, but seeing the boy cough up more blood, he didn't hesitate anymore. Naruto's visible wounds from before were showing up in this new state of transformation of his, including the gaping hole in the child's stomach that glared back him. It didn't help that the kid's pants were violent and heavy and it deeply concerned Minato. He was trying his hardest to flush down the panic that seized his heart.

"...I-I'm okay," Naruto choked out but it was a blatant lie. He was definitely _not _'okay'. But he didn't want to have an agrument with his father when he was so close to finishing this task. He could already feel the man's disapproving glare upon him so he continued. "I just... I have to hurry. Help me get t-to the other me..." Naruto spoke through his dilapidated breath. His glowing body was fading in and out, but it maintained as much as it could. Knowing the serious tone the six-year-old used, Minato nodded and situated the boy into his arms and carried him towards his infant son.

Apparently, having sensed his older self's distress once again, the baby Naruto began crying out, his tiny little hands tightened into fists. It was strange to Minato but he decided to ignore it for now. When he approached the wailing baby with his future son, he knelt down in order for the other to seal the Kyuubi.

"**Kit,"** the Yin Kurama murmured hurriedly to Naruto. **"Now that we had time to see the plan, we need to change it now. Seal our past self into you but transfer the Yang into your younger self. This way, the strain of the sealing won't be as harmful to the child because of our bond. The seal will put me into a deep slumber but will keep others from detecting my presence within the kit."**

'_...Huh. Are you sure that can be done?_'

"**Yes. Rikudo-jiji's sealing prowess had been the finest in his time. But, enough about that. We'll handle the rest as soon as you begin but you must hurry up. There's not much time for us to hold the form together."**

'_All right._'

Minato watched in confusion and awe as his older son placed his left hand against his stomach. The angry, red chakra of the Kyuubi filtered into his body, causing the boy to convulse and shake violently from the torturous pain. Beads of sweat trickled down his face, his lungs ached and burned as he tried hard to greedily consume as much oxygen as he could to steady himself. His breath was beyond the point of extreme labor. He was forcing himself to work in overdrive but knowing the outcome, he didn't mind the taxing discomfort.

It happened for only a few seconds until his body stopped and, using the same hand prior, drew out another source of chakra from his stomach's seal. It felt oddly familiar—in fact, it was like the same chakra signature as the red but it was much...warmer and softer, if it could be called that. The future Naruto, through heavy pants, brought his left hand over the baby's stomach and gently pressed down on it, weakly calling out, "Seal" just as his body flickered out of the Rikudo Senjutsu mode.

Similar, dark and light markings of the magatama formed on the infant Naruto's body but it vanished after a moment. A half moon shaped seal was over the Hakke no Fuin Shiki that Minato placed earlier, signifying the success of the containment. He was fully aware that the future Naruto had just made himself a Jinchuriki, in both ways. Even though that was what he had planned, it didn't make it any easier to accept.

Naruto's hand tiredly slipped off his younger self's belly, and a light smile graced his face. He was exhausted in more ways than one, but the deed had been done. The baby opened his eyes, meeting the matching ones of his older version. As the six-year-old observed the baby version of himself, he could detect that the Kurama of his time had already settled and was nearly nonexistent, almost as if he purposely allowed the infant's growing chakra to mask his presence. That was good enough for Naruto.

"...Naru-chan, shh... it's gonna be okay..." Naruto whispered softly again, conveying his feelings through his voice. Little Naruto's cries still carried on strongly and a simple, tender touch of the older Naruto's hands were enough to calm the weeping child. The reaction still baffled Minato but now that he had time to adapt to the exchange, he figured since the two of them were technically the same person, they would have some sort of effect on another, emotionally from what he could tell. It would never replace Kushina, however the older Naruto had the same effect of calming the younger Naruto down.

The Fourth realized he would come to count on this 'connection' in the near future.

"Bunta, thank you," Minato said to the large toad chief who sluggishly nodded and poofed away in a cloud of smoke. The barrier that he had formed prior lowered, allowing several ANBU, along with the Sandaime, that had been outside it in. Minato picked up both of his sons, noticing how the wounds on the older were beginning to heal up. It must have been to the Kyuubi's influence. He adjusted the older Naruto into a sitting position in his left arm while he supported the infant one in his right while the former was using the remaining strength he had to hold onto the baby.

"Minato!" Sarutobi shouted, getting the man's attention. The former Hokage noticed his successor was covered in dirt, grime and caked blood but appeared to be fine. There was an infant in his grasp that the old man knew was his son, but the other child he didn't completely recognize. He also seemed aware that Minato had both of them in a protective embrace and a powerful, leaking aura that practically screamed, 'do not touch'.

"Don't worry, Sarutobi-sama, everything's fine now."

"But what of the Kyuubi? Where did it go? And that flash of golden light?"

Minato shook his head. "I will explain all of that at a later time. I need to get these two to the hospital quickly." He was well aware of the explanations he would have to make for the council and that the villagers needed assurance that the threat was no more. He noticed the grim stare his predecessor gave him but it didn't worry Minato. His son needed medical attention right away. "I'll have everything explained within the week. The threat has been dealt with and now we must turn our attention to rebuilding what has been damaged. Sarutobi-sama, I can entrust this to you?"

The old man nodded in understanding. "Of course, Minato."

With that as his confirmation, Konoha's Yellow Flash used his Hiraishin to flash away.

* * *

Monday, October 27 400 NE

Two weeks later

11:14 am

* * *

Uchiha Obito watched the slumbering boy in his hospital bed. He and his friend and teammate, Hatake Kakashi, had been assigned a mission from their sensei, the Fourth Hokage. Alongside a few assigned hidden ANBU in the room and outside it, the two were the only ones that were allowed permission to stay near this boy and his newborn son. Their sensei had been strictly adamant about not letting _anyone_ other than himself, the Sandaime and the nurses tending to the kids into the room. Beside the kid, in an incubator was said newborn, who was lost in dreamland.

On that horrible day last week, he had sensed Minato-sensei using the Kyuubi's power, and after some time, the teen hardly felt it anymore. It scared him. His sensei's chakra signature was nearly gone and that only meant one thing to Obito: someone had extracted the Kyuubi from his teacher. It was a dreadful thought that plagued him for several minutes until he felt the signature of the Kyuubi mere seconds before it was somehow teleported into the center of the village, causing havoc.

He hardly had time to forewarn his companions that the beast was coming until it landed, right out of nowhere. Even as mostly jonin and ANBU ranked shinobi were allowed to fight it, those within his age group, including Kakashi, were forbidden from engaging the Kyuubi. Those had been the orders of the Sandaime. Still, when one of the Nine-Tails' bijudama were aimed at them, Obito had rushed in to save them. He was still only chunin rank but after the Third Shinobi World War, he had acquired a new ability from his clan's kekkai genkai. He never told his sensei or Kakashi about it because he himself didn't know how to truly utilize it, but in an act of desperation, he channeled chakra to his eyes, activating his Sharingan. The large sphere was "sucked" into some vortex and vanished.

That was troubling.

Seconds later, the bijudama reappeared, but far away from the village, surprising everyone with the oddity of it. Nevertheless, the diversion proved useful as it saved many lives. Many shinobi and kunoichi were desperately trying their best to push the multi-tailed fiend back with their weapons and B-rank to A-rank jutsu. Some were having very little effect while most hardly did anything to faze the creature. Both Obito and Kakashi knew, as well as the Sandaime, that if the Kyuubi was free that meant Minato was dead. Hope for Konoha's survival was slowly dwindling. If their sensei were here, he'd have figured out something...

That's when the old man showed up to make a request.

-**Flashback no Jutsu**-

"Uchiha Obito," _Sarutobi Hiruzen, the former Third Hokage, called to his attention. The teenaged Uchiha turned to face the old man, standing still._

"Sir?"

"Come with me."

_The old man's voice was deathly serious. It wasn't just about the Kyuubi's attack though. Obito nodded and shunshin'd alongside the Sandaime to another location. It was atop the Hokage Monument, right on Senju Hashirama's head. Obito waited anxiously for the ex-Hokage to speak whatever he had to say. While he wasn't the sharpest kunai in the pouch, he had a sinking feeling of what the conversation was going to be about._

"Obito, you remember the S-rank secret that keeps both yours and Minato's statuses as Jinchuriki private, correct?"

_The teenager blinked but nodded. He never liked that word, 'Jinchuriki' but unfortunately that's what he and his sensei were._

"I understand you and your...tenant have only been acquainted for two years—not enough time for full cooperation, but now..." _Sarutobi's eyes hardened when he saw the Kyuubi swipe away more powerful ninjutsu that was created to attack it from afar._ "I believe it is best for you to utilize it's power." _Obito's body stiffened and his eyes narrowed, but not at the old man. He wanted him to use the bijuu's power in this battle, possibly to give everyone a fighting chance. When he was working somewhat with the demon contained in him, he felt powerful, stronger than before, but their relationship was, at best, just "acquaintances" at this point. The bijuu didn't outright hate him; it was pretty polite on several occasions. It didn't fight or refuse, but it was stubborn when it came to its host using its power for a little longer than normal. Still, to use it now? People would find out and he'd be labeled._

_But... in the end... It would be worth it. He'd use it to save as many lives as he could. His sensei encouraged him to befriend the chakra monster sealed inside him. He had tried ever since he found out his sensei was also a container and when he was told. It made sense to try and get the creature on his side and to earn its trust. They could bond and their combined power would be devastating. Minato-sensei had demonstrated that to him a couple months ago when he and the Kyuubi's power became one temporarily and allowed a totally different cloaked form transformation. Obito wanted to reach that stage of power, but not because he wanted it out of greed. No—he wanted it because it was like a badge of approval, of trust between him and the bijuu. Understanding the gravity of the situation and the fact Konoha's survival was weighted against this decision, Obito steeled himself firmly._

"Obito, I understand if you do not wish to go through with this—"

"It's all right, Sandaime-sama. I-I'll do it." The teenaged Uchiha slightly cut him off, surprising the old man. Sarutobi eyed him as Obito continued, "But, my clansmen will find out about this when I do. They'll probably freak out or something stupid."

"And we'll be sure to keep it private as much as possible to ensure that you still live like a civilized human being."

_He wasn't sure about that but he had a duty to his village. He had to do everything in his power to save it. No matter what, he was still a shinobi of Konoha and he wouldn't let it suffer._

"Okay. Are you going back?"

"Yes. Try to remain here, Obito and prepare. We will hold off the Kyuubi for as long as we can. When you're finished, come down."

"Yes sir."

_The Sandaime nodded, a deep, tired frown on his battle-hardened face. When he used the shunshin to head back to the battle, Obito sat down, cross legged and closed his eyes to meditate. This was taught to him by Minato-sensei, as a means to not only clear his thoughts but to effectively communicate with his bjiuu. It worked as he felt the beast rumble within his mind, most likely due to the intense chakra of the Kyuubi nearby it could sense._

"_**Ne, Lil Colt. It's about time you contacted me. I sense Kurama-nii's anger from here and it's not good."**_

'Kokuo-san, that's why I'm here. The Kyuubi's been released and I can't sense Minato-sensei's life force anymore. He's...he's...' _Obito shut his eyes to fight back the wetness that betrayed him. Shinobi don't weep for their fallen loved ones during a battle but it was so hard. The man had been involved in his life since he had been assigned to his genin team. Had been there for him, never admonished him when he was late but kept reminding him to arrive on time. Hell, when the Gobi had been forced-sealed to him during the Third World War, he never judged and fixed the seal so it wouldn't strain him nor the creature. The thought of losing him, it hurt. It hurt so much._

_Sensing his host's anguish, Kokuo, the Five-Tails bijuu, stepped forward and nudged the Uchiha. __**"Don't weep, Lil Colt. You will have time for that later. Right now, we must focus our power together and stop Kurama-nii from attacking the village."**_

'I know but...!'

"_**I understand. It is very painful to lose someone very close to you. I, as with all the bijuu, have lost someone very close to us as well. A long time ago. Come, Lil Colt. We must prepare."**_

_Obito took a deep breath and left his mindscape to connect back with his body. The familiar channel of his and Kokuo's budding chakra merge lit up within his body and before long, a red cloak ignited around him. Three of the Gobi's five tails manifested as part of the cloak behind him and a small portion of Obito's hair shifted slightly in recognition of his tailed beast's horns. When the Uchiha opened his eyes, they weren't the dark pools anymore. His eyes took on the colors of the Gobi's; light blue with a red ring inside the pupil. His body adjusted to the bijuu's natural ability to enhancing his physical strength capacity. Three tailed-form was as much as the boy could handle at this point; any further and he'd succumb to an overwhelming force that would numb his mind and take control. Essentially, he'd become a danger to everyone around him if he attempted the fourth tail. Obito stood up from his meditation and placed his goggles over his eyes._

"Kokuo-san, I'm ready."

"_**Ne, all right. Let's get going then. Be careful, Lil Colt. Kurama-niisan is very strong, so all of our attacks have to be precise."**_

_Nodding, Obito used the shunshin jutsu to head for the battlefield._

-**End Flashback**-

The battle last night was terrifying. It scared him because for one, the Kyuubi was being controlled by this madman. Obito's tailed form sometimes caught the Nine-Tails off guard but only for a moment until he regained his footing and tried to flatten the teenager. Several times did the young Jinchuriki avoid merciless attacks, one by one and deflecting any bijudama that would have leveled some part of the village. He was the only one that could stand half a chance against the might of the possessed-Kyuubi but even Obito knew it wouldn't be enough. His powered up physical punches did some work, but it only made the wild beast angrier that he was being assaulted.

The second reason it scared him was because his clan leader, Uchiha Fugaku had saw him in the tailed form a couple of times throughout the battle. The man was apart of the Uchiha force that headed out on the front lines to keep the Kyuubi at bay. Obito even had to save the man—and a couple others—from being turned into barbecue Uchiha by the Katon barrage that the Nine-Tails aimed for him and other shinobi. The encounter hadn't been pretty but Obito was glad he was able to do something worthwhile.

While Kokuo was an abundance and a limitless demon of chakra, his host didn't have unlimited stamina to compensate. Just after an hour and a half of firing of jutsu and helping save unsuspecting shinobi from the Kyuubi's charge, he had grown tired. He had a feeling this was his limit—hell, the cloak started to fade out. Many times did he chant to himself to keep going because the village needed his help and that he was the only one to keep the beast back. His strong will and sheer luck were the only things that kept Uchiha Obito going, even though his chakra was dangerously low and his body growing wearier by the minute. Kokuo even urged him to retreat, but no... The stubborn boy slaved himself to persist. He wouldn't bend over backwards to this; he would rather die valiantly while defending his home than to flee like a coward.

Just as he was attempting to get through the hand signs to complete his next jutsu, another bijudama was purposefully targeting him. Obito's eyes widened when the thing fired off, too fast for his liking. He stood his ground, but he was shaking. He couldn't deflect that nor avoid it. He couldn't even summon up the necessary chakra to finish. '_Damnit..._' He thought, unable to keep his eyes off the menacing sphere of energy heading his way. Time seemed to have slowed down for him. It was coming, it was going to be the end of him.

'_Rin... I'm sorry. I couldn't keep the promise I made _you.' At the last moment, he shut his eyes.

The next thing he knew, he felt like he was in the air. Yep, he was probably dying. That was the only explanation for the strange phenomenon. '_And I never got to thank Kakashi-teme for helping me with that new jutsu...Ugh. What a way to die._' Obito wearily opened his eyes. He spotted some splotches of color in his vision. It looked like white and yellow mixing together, and when the daze lightly lifted, the colors started to form into the one man that he believed was dead.

"...S-sensei...?" Was he hallucinating? Do dead people hallucinate, anyway? Was this some dream he was having before he was blown to smithereens? The figment of his imagination smiled down at him, those familiar, blue orbs glistening brightly.

"Obito, I'm glad you're all right." Minato—the Uchiha was sure it was him—said softly. "I'm proud of you. You held off the Kyuubi for a long time and helped many of your fellow shinobi. You deserve to rest. You've exhausted your chakra."

Well, he was extremely tired, having gone into tailed beast mode to fend off a giant fox monster while helping others. But for some imagination, it felt awfully warm and real. Too real. Obito couldn't wrap his mind around it because he was too drained and tired to think. But, if this was real...

"M-M-Minato-sensei? Y...you're not... y-you're not..." he choked on the forming sobs in his throat. The unbidden tears forming in the corner of his eyes.

"I'm fine Obito. Rest now. It's going to be all right."

He believed those words and sighed deeply in utter relief. The last thing Obito heard was the distraught voice of Kakashi shouting his name.

* * *

Saturday, October 11 400 NE

6:47 am

* * *

The next time he came to, Obito woke up in the familiar whiteness of a hospital room. He couldn't remember what the heck happened. He could barely turn his head to look out the window to his right. It was still dark outside though the light of sunrise was inching close. Turning away from there, he felt a familiar chakra signature and adjusted himself to find it. What caught his eye surprised him.

It was Kakashi's form sitting next to him in a chair, slouched over in a discomforted position. His single eye was closed, his already untamed hair was slightly disheveled and his hand was barely keeping the Icha Icha book he cherished so much steady. He looked ready to drop dead any minute, and the way he was in that position made Obito wonder if he did just that. The shuffling of his body under the covers alerted the slumbering Hatake instantaneously. His right eye opened wearily as it spotted the dark orbs of his teammate staring at him.

"Obito."

"Hey... Kakashi. What are...you doing?"

The other teen paused for a moment to shift into a better sitting position in his chair before replying. "I was waiting for you to wake up. You've been out for a day. Tsunade-sama said you had chakra exhaustion." Kakashi trained his visible eye on his friend. "She said you'd be awake by tomorrow. You had Minato-sensei and I very worried."

Obito gulped slightly. He didn't mean to worry anyone. He was just doing his job as a shinobi. He was defending his village like the others. "I'm sorry, Kakashi. It wasn't intentional, but the Sandaime asked me—"

"I know. Don't worry about it. I'm sure it was thanks to you-know-who that you're able to get back up much faster than was anticipated." The silver-haired jonin sat back in his chair, lazily readjusting himself to continue reading his book. Obito relaxed after his friend relayed the information to him. However, there was this creeping feeling in the back of his mind that told him something bad was going to happen and it involved his clan for some reason. Whatever it was, he could probably handle it when it came. He pushed the negative thought to the back of his mind and allowed himself to rest up. He wanted to enjoy the silent company of his friend's presence and sleep until he was tired of sleeping. Hah, the irony.

"I'll let Minato-sensei and the nurses know you're awake. I won't be gone long." Kakashi said as he stood up and stretched, then prepared to exit the room. Obito watched him with half lidded eyes and smiled.

"Sure. Don't get lost on the road of life, teme." The Uchiha joked.

Kakashi eye smiled to him. "I'm sure I won't, dobe." With that, the masked jonin left the room, closing the door behind him.

* * *

**-Present time-**

11:40 am

* * *

The two friends had been assigned to watch the sleeping boy a couple days after Obito was omitted from the hospital room that cramped his style. Seeing the hell that was the white walls was getting on his nerves. There were times both of them occupied the room or they'd switch out with one another to take care of quick business (such as getting something to eat or relieve the other). The kid had been out for two weeks, and it was causing their sensei to worry. The infant Naruto hardly woke up nor cried for anything other than the basic necessities—which the medic-nins noticed was odd coming from a newborn—before going back to sleep. It was just really weird.

"Ne, Kakashi, when did Tsunade-sama say he should be waking up? Like, how much longer?" Obito asked, thoroughly bored.

"Maa, she said until another few days from now," the aforesaid teen replied, turning a page in his brand new copy of Icha Icha. "The kid was suffering from several injuries, Obito. Chakra exhaustion, blood loss, few scrapes and bruises, and not to mention, he had been impaled by the Kyuubi's claw along with Minato-sensei." As he listed the injuries, the Uchiha shuddered visibly. Being stabbed with a knife or kunai was bad, but by that giant, raging furball? The kid was lucky to even be alive right now. "It's a miracle he's still alive and stabilized."

"Yeah... and he's just a kid, too."

"Mm."

They sat in silence again, one reading his book while standing in a corner and the other occupying a chair, arms folded. A few minutes went by until Obito felt a mental pull. He fidgeted slightly but figured something was up. Kakashi noticed his movements and met his teammate's eye. "Something wrong, Obito?"

"Yeah. _It_ needs to speak with me." He said with a strong hint. The silver-haired teen got the message and nodded. Silently thanking Kakashi, Obito got up from his chair and sat down on the floor, getting into his meditating pose. He relaxed as he closed his eyes, feeling the pull drag him into his mindscape. The second it happened, his body slumped a little but not by much. Kakashi shook his head; no matter how many times Obito and his sensei did that, he couldn't get used to it. He would never admit it aloud but he wondered how it felt like to speak with a bijuu on a semi-personal matter. Seconds later, Obito opened his eyes with a grim look on his face. Whatever conversation he had with the chakra monster, the Uchiha wasn't going to say.

The pair remained silent for a little while longer until something shuffled. Both immediately turned their attention to the kid they'd been assigned to watch over for the past two weeks. He was waking up. The teens shared a glance at each other for a quick moment and the Uchiha took the initiative.

"I'll inform Minato-sensei," Obito stated seriously. His teammate simply nodded as he shunshin'd away. Kakashi closed his book and pocketed it then returned his attention to the kid. The Hatake jonin was kind of surprised the first time he saw the boy. He had the same, untamed mop of blond hair as his teacher's, albeit a tone lighter. His skin complexion was a fraction darker than the aforementioned latter and what confused him more was the six lines that marked the kid's face, three on each cheek. During his quick observations, Kakashi found that his sensei's son also had those same marks in the same place. It puzzled him and he couldn't help but wonder. Was the boy related to his sensei?

When he had gotten Obito on the puzzle, his teammate also noticed the similarities between their teacher, said teacher's newborn son and the mystery kid. These strikingly, identical instances made them highly suspicious of the boy. They had a feeling Minato-sensei hadn't told them the whole story when he said he found the kid during the middle of the fight with the Kyuubi. For all they knew, the civilians were evacuated to a safe location when the beast arrived inside the village. Kakashi and the rest of the chunin and jonin that were in his age group were forbidden from fighting the creature but were ordered to help evacuate the villagers.

They had not seen anyone matching this kid's appearance in the village.

In fact, the only one that did was their Hokage, but he was outside the village, presumed dead because of the Nine-Tails' being free. It was silly thinking to imagine that man had shrunk down to the diminished size of a child after that. Those who knew what would happen after an extraction were certain the host died almost immediately. Kakashi didn't know what to think of this kid. Nothing made sense nor did it add up. How did he get outside of the village? How did he end up near his sensei? What was he doing there anyway?

He and Obito thought he was a spy sent from Iwa or Kiri but it dropped the moment they felt the utter possessiveness Minato-sensei showed towards not only his infant son but to the kid. They couldn't place it; why, for all that's worth, did their Hokage trust and protect the kid so much? It was _way _too strange for the Hatake prodigy to figure out. But one thing he knew for certain; this little boy had to be related to his teacher in _some_ way.

Couldn't be his kid, since Naruto had been born two weeks ago. Not only that, Minato-sensei hadn't said anything about having another child before Kushina became pregnant. In fact, he recalled the joy in his teacher's eyes when the private announcement of his wife's pregnancy. He wasn't an expert but he could tell that the baby would be his first. He even expressed that this was his first time. Nothing out of the ordinary there and the man wasn't known for lying. It was impossible for him to.

Kakashi thoughts entertained him with another idea. What if the kid was Minato's brother? It was _possible_, but the kid looked like a first-year Academy student. He looked much too young to be his sensei's brother; the Hokage was just in his mid-twenties. Maybe he was actually older and just dwarf-sized?

At the point, he didn't realize how close his assumption had been.

Hm, maybe he was sensei's nephew then? But, he never mentioned about having any other siblings because he had been an orphan before he came to Konoha as a child. The last relative option he could think of was a cousin. Any of these could be possibly true, but a tad farfetched. How would any relative know exactly _when_ to appear on the battlefield like that? Perhaps he had been passing through? But that was silly. Even if the kid was a trained shinobi, nobody in their right mind would allow a boy so young to travel on his own. Though the thought crossed his mind, he couldn't help but wonder if the kid was also an orphan and that he ran away to find someone who he could call family. It would make sense a little and now that he truly thought on it, Kakashi began to understand it.

'_What if that's true?_'

Another sound of bed covers shifting caught his attention and Kakashi noticed the boy was sitting up, staring at him with wide, very familiar, cerulean-blue eyes. He couldn't get a reading from the kid's expression but those eyes told him the boy was confused or startled to see him. Kakashi's only visible eye half narrowed at the six-year-old child who didn't seem fazed by the teen's suspicious focus. It was like he was used to it. Hm, how peculiar.

* * *

When Naruto stirred from his sleep, he immediately recognized the smell of medicine and the cool air that could only belong to the hospital and the fact he felt like crap. First, he thought the whole experience was just a bad dream. He felt the pull on his conscience, which prompted him to consult his tenant about the 'dream'. Much to his dismay and ire, it was confirmed that everything from that day was _not_ a dream. That, yes, he was still in the past. He had seen his father, his younger self, the past-Kyuubi rampaging, the sealing and even that pedo-Tobi fake that attacked him in the Kamui dimension and told him about some summoning technique that forced him out of his death—he guessed—and brought him here. Not to mention, said tenant reminded him that he was still the size and age of a squirt.

All the information was mind boggling at first though within a few minutes, he was able to sort it out and make something sensible of it. Thankfully, he wouldn't have a headache with housing two Kyuubi in his mind. Whatever happened, Kurama was back to being one entity and that was a huge relief. The fox also took this time to scold him harshly about his brash, foolish and reckless idea of taking the hit from his past self's claw. He also lectured about how he had been working overtime to heal his body so it could survive because he almost died. Naruto knew Kurama wouldn't tell him he had been worried for his well-being; nope, the furball still maintained his superiority complex. Still, he knew Kurama cared and wouldn't push his luck.

The seal Naruto self placed on his stomach over the first two layers of the former ones had forced Kurama back into a cage but the fox didn't mind it for the time being. It would allow the boy to readjust to the two fusions. Thankfully, nothing else within had been damaged.

After the whole lecture, Kurama wanted to sleep to regain his energy and Naruto left his mindscape to begin planning for the new future. He already accomplished stopping his father from stupidly sacrificing himself to seal the Kyuubi and now he could move onto the next step. But, what was next? Well, aside from adjusting to the new...time he was placed in and trained his body to recover his lost strength. He hated being and feeling weak and the diminished size wasn't going to stop him.

'_But, first things first; no Rikudo Senjutsu or Bijuu modes until I train my new size of a body to handle them. I could probably handle stage one of the Bijuu mode possibly after a few months worth of training. Stage two and the other one are definite no-go's until I grow older...again. Aww well._' He shifted in his bed, trying to get comfortable and go back to sleep but it was futile. Once he was awake, nothing could stop him except for exhaustion. Curiously, the blond lifted the sheets and his hospital robe to see the heavy amount of bandages wrapped around his stomach. Yikes; maybe Kurama was right. Well, that was water under the bridge now and he passed it. Sighing softly, Naruto carefully pushed himself up a little more and adapted into a new sitting position on the bed that was moderately comfortable.

He couldn't wait to get out of here. As helpful as this place was, he dreaded and despised hospitals and anything clinic-related with an undying passion. They were boring, the food was average, and it was nothing but _white walls_ surrounding him. Not only that, the smell of medicine and other chemicals they used here disturbed his sense of smell.

Just as he relaxed, a chakra signature that he hadn't felt in a long while acquainted itself with his senses. He turned his head to see one of the few closest ninja in all of Konoha. It was Hatake Kakashi, albeit a younger version of the man. '_Sensei... You don't know how happy I am to see you again._' Naruto thought longingly. He was half surprised to see the young man—no, wait, he was a teenager now but probably not for long—with his somewhat lazy demeanor. Kakashi of this time seemed a little less lazy than his own, now that he thought about it.

This kid also wasn't dressed in ANBU attire either. Kakashi-sensei had admitted his past to him after the battle with Otsutsuki Kaguya and had told him that he had been assigned to the ANBU after the conclusion of the Third Shinobi World War by his father, Minato. It was because of his grief of losing his two teammates, Uchiha Obito and Nohara Rin that Kakashi couldn't focus and became a shadow of his former self. He took Obito's death hard and eventually picked up the Uchiha's habits of tardiness and Rin's death, which was caused by his own hand, didn't help his sanity back then. Shaking from his thoughts, Naruto took it upon himself to compare the teenaged Kakashi to the story version of his former sensei's.

The kid had the face down and he still looked calm as before. His stance didn't indicate the usually laziness like the older version Naruto had come to know for a long time. His silvery-white hair still defied the laws of gravity and he was not alone without his precious Icha Icha book. However, what caught Naruto's eye was that this Kakashi had his hitai-ate slanted over his left eye, leaving him as the "cyclops jonin" once more. The blond remembered that Kakashi told them that he received his transplanted left eye, a Sharingan, as a gift from a friend, from Obito, when that fateful encounter with the Iwa-nins occurred during the Third War. Did...Did that mean this Kakashi lost his world's Obito already?

'_No, wait. If he did, that means Obito would have been that masked man, that Tobi guy. But the Tobi I fought earlier didn't have Obito's unique signature. I would have known._' Naruto mused to himself. '_But Kakashi-sensei, er this one, he's covering his left eye. That must mean the Obito of this time is dead somehow or something. And, his other teammate, Rin. She must be dead, too. But if that's all true, then why isn't Kakashi-sensei apart of the ANBU under Dad?_'

Naruto put up a facial mask when his eyes met with Kakashi's, who was giving him a piercing gaze that read him off as suspicious. The time-traveler knew why the teenaged version of his ex-teacher was giving him that look. For now, he wouldn't say anything that could possibly warrant him anymore hostility from Kakashi. He would wait until his father returned. Not a moment longer, Naruto heard the soft yawn of a much younger voice next to him. Blinking, he slightly leaned over to his left to see a baby with a mop of blond locks similar to his own, wide, sky-colored eyes looking straight at him, the distinguishable whisker marks on his face and wrapped in an orange blanket. The future boy smiled and the infant reciprocated the facial expression.

That was him, the little Naruto of this time. He still couldn't grasp how immensely adorable he was. Who would want to abandon such a cutey? At that thought, Naruto was sure he heard Kurama's deep chuckling at the back of his mind. Naruto mentally scowled back at him and told him to go back to sleep. Damn fox and reading his thoughts.

More chakra signatures that were steadily approaching flooded Naruto's senses again as he turned away from his littler self and looked up. Kakashi had still kept an eye on him but was waiting patiently for whoever it was to come inside the room. Two voices, one he recognized as the Yondaime's and another he wasn't sure about, were talking in semi-hushed tones outside the room. The door knob turned slowly and the door was pushed in.

"So, yeah, there he is, sensei," the other voice Naruto didn't recognize said. The Fourth Hokage entered the room, followed by a teenager wearing a dark navy blue, short sleeve shirt, matching pants with orange lining running down them. He was wearing the chunin vest but it was currently unzipped purposefully. The white wrap was around this guy's right thigh and his sandals also matched his already dark attire. His hair was short, wild and untamed, and his Konoha hitai-ate was hidden behind a pair of goggles with orange lens. His eyes were pupiless and dark. When Naruto really got a good look at him, his mind started whirling at the image and the chakra signature of this teen. '_No way... It can't be him, can it?_'

"Thank you, Obito, Kakashi, for watching him. You're both dismissed." Minato said with a warm smile. The first name confirmed Naruto's previous thought: that kid was Uchiha Obito! So, if he was still alive now, and it was _before_ the Kyuubi's attack when he presumed dead when Kakashi first told his story... Agh! This was CONFUSING. What did this mean? Why was he here? Well, if he was here in Konoha, that means he's not being brainwashed by the old fart Madara and not becoming the twisted man that was Tobi. While this was all good news for Naruto, that didn't explain why Kakashi has his hitai-ate slanted over his left eye. Did his teenaged sensei lose his eye in this time, too?

"Hai, sensei." The pair of shinobi nodded, feeling a bit uncomfortable leaving but obeyed anyway. They left the room via shunshin. Minato waited until their signatures were gone before waving the ANBU away and closing the door. Naruto watched as the older blond placed a few privacy seals in different areas of the room and activated them. After that, he grabbed a chair, placed it next to both of his sons and sat down. His blue eyes were focused so intently on the future boy that it made Naruto shudder from the intense, studious gaze.

Finally after an awkward minute of pregnant silence, Minato broke the ice. "You really are Naruto." He stated with finality.

That sort of caught him off guard. Just a little. "Um, yeah."

Minato shook his head but smiled nonetheless. "It's awfully strange, you know? Just two weeks ago, my son was born and during that same night, a boy no older than five or six appears and seems to be an older version of said son." The Yondaime paused for a moment for the words to sink in. Naruto's face tinted a shade of pink in embarrassment. "I wasn't sure how to really react to this. Kushina apparently knew who you were when she saw you. It must have been a mother's intuition that allowed her to make that connection."

Naruto fidgeted but didn't say anything. What was there to say anyway?

"Still... However method you used to come here, it reassured me to know that you've already become a strong individual, even though you're just a young boy."

"Er, thanks, Dad." Naruto's face changed into a grin. "But, there's something you have to know..."

Minato looked at him curiously, waiting for him to go on. And Naruto obliged to the silent request.

"I didn't use a technique or anything to get here. It wasn't my true intention, to be honest and no offense." The boy went silent for a quick second, sighing a bit. "And, I'm not really as young as you think I might be." He was met with a puzzling expression from his father.

"No? You're not, well, six? How old are you, Naruto?"

"I'm supposed to be nineteen right now. Did you know I was also the Rokudaime before I came here?" He smirked when he saw his father's expression. He would state that loud and proud until the day he died again. It was his dream to become Hokage of Konoha and he accomplished it. The role also changed him; no longer was he the boy or teenaged prankster that was loud and had silly crushes. There were times when his brashness showed up, but it hardly happened during his reign. Unfortunately, like his father, he died too young, too. Going back on his original subject, Naruto continued. "You know, I bet when those stupid bastards-"

"Language," Minato warned sternly. He may not swear as much, only in conflicting situations, but he wouldn't let his son have such a foul mouth.

"-sorry, but when I was told I was summoned here, against my will, I assumed their skill at doing so was probably mediocre at best. Maybe some beginner tried it and it didn't work out too well. They were probably expecting a full grown person containing the Kyuubi as a host but they got a little kid instead." Just as he finished that, a horrid thought crossed his mind. "Unless they intentionally messed with me and purposefully wanted a kid container so they would be manipulated easier or something like that!"

Even though Minato heard the rest of the explanation and had corrected his son from cursing, he was still wrapping his head around the fact this boy was _supposed_ to be nineteen years old and not a six year old child. But, he also recalled that strange, masked man saying that a summoning had been completed and that he was going to have a new Kyuubi Jinchuriki. Naruto's story seemed to fit with his side. That confirmed most of the mystery and that this Naruto was, in fact, the new Kyuubi host.

"Mm, it does match with my side of the story, Naruto," Minato said, getting the boy's attention. "Nevertheless, we'll need to perhaps find a way to send you back to your own time."

Naruto gaped at him. Was...was he serious? Had he been really thinking about sending him back? Narrowing his cobalt orbs at his father, he frowned. "...You're joking, right?"

Not missing a beat, Minato met his gaze. "Pardon?"

"You're seriously trying to send me back?"

"Well, why not? Don't you have a family back in your own time waiting for you?"

"Yes, but..." He trailed, unsure how to really say this. Yes, he had his loving wife, Hinata, his friends the Rookie 9, his best friend, Sasuke, Kakashi-sensei, Iruka-sensei, Tsunade-baachan and the others. But, it wasn't that easy. How could he go back if he had no body to return to? He'd be sent back to the afterlife's stream instead! "Dad, listen. If you send me back to my own time, I'll cease existing."

That definitely wasn't the words the Fourth was expecting from his son. Carefully, he asked, "Why would you?"

Naruto sighed deeply. How could he tell this to the man who essentially helped bring him into the world? Okay, it was a different version of his father but the man was the same person regardless. Uneasily, the blond boy turned away from Minato's scrutinzing expression. "I... I died in my time. It was a few years a-after the Fourth Shinobi World War, a year after I married." He closed his eyes and grimaced. Like it was yesterday, he could recall the whole scene clearly. He didn't leave with any regrets. He was absolutely certain of that. But he still missed them all, and that feeling wouldn't go away.

The room was chillingly silent after that. Minato only stared at his future boy with concern. How did he die? What caused his death? Would knowing help him prevent his infant son's death by the same means?

Sensing the emotion rolling off his father in waves, Naruto continued. "My death was kind of natural. It's a very long story but to put it shortly, the chakra in my body ran out. Since I had absorbed the chakra of the other eight bijuu during the war, my body began to adjust and rely on it more than what was necessary. It adapted and began changing into a semi-dense form of chakra like the bijuu are. So, in a way, my body was bordering on being a form of composed chakra and remaining human. The strain of the shift eventually waned out and couldn't keep up. By the time I realized what was going on, my body started fading." He stopped paused again as he took a deep breath to calm his emotions. He didn't like recalling those memories and they had been the hardest ones yet.

"Eventually, my body faded away and...yeah..." Naruto finished. He left out a lot of the story, like how he actually had the other bijuu residing within his body like the Rikudo Sennin during said mentioned war, separating their chakra from him and giving their lives and freedom back. Which was the cause of said death but it was painful enough to recall the summarized version. His father didn't need anymore worries on his plate.

"...Naruto, I..."

"It's not your fault, you know. But... I have this awful feeling that if you do find a way to send me back, I'll just wind up dying again." He and his father shared a serious look together. "My body evaporated, basically, so I don't have anything there to attach to and help me live...again. I'd cease to exist in that time period." This point, the baby Naruto began getting agitated so Minato took him out of the incubator and held him in his arms. The older Naruto noticed and nodded.

"Huh, when I think about it, I'm willing to bet whoever summoned me here destroyed the evidence because they were planning on using me to get to Kurama." He finished, musing mostly aloud.

Minato raised an eyebrow at the new name. "Kurama?"

Naruto blinked. "Huh? Oh yeah, that's the name of the fox." He said that as if he were chatting about the weather.

"That's odd. He never told me his name."

"Huh? What do you mean, Dad?"

The Fourth looked at his future son as if he had grown a second head though with slight confusion. "You don't know? You were never told in your time?"

Naruto just stared blankly at his father. What didn't he not know? What wasn't he told in his own life? He felt like his dad had another hidden secret that was never spelled out to anybody while he had been alive in his own time. Was he going to tell him here? And, sure this Minato probably knew about the fox because his mother had him sealed in her. That was an S-rank village secret; he had read up on that for closure of his own when he became the Rokudaime. Though, his father here seemed like he _knew_ the fox on a personal level. That didn't seem right. "What do you mean?"

Minato took a few seconds to realize his son really _didn't_ know. That was a little heartbreaking, since he made himself one a few weeks ago. Well, better break the ice now than never. "You were never told that I housed the Kyuubi no Kitsune." He phrased that like a question. He saw Naruto's eyes widen and knew that the boy wasn't told in his future time.

"I-Impossible..." he heard his son whisper uncertainly but the Yondaime heard it clearly thanks to his heightened hearing.

"What's impossible, Naruto?"

"T-That you... you had the Kyuubi in you." Blue eyes met one another again as the boy shook his head. "That can't be. Mom had the Kyuubi sealed inside her. Her seal weakened when I she was in labor delivering me." The boy stated with absolution. This news confused Minato—how could this be? He had carried that fox since he was nine years old. But his future son was saying his wife had? Then again, now that he thought about it, he remembered the being asked to become a temporary host for the Kyuubi while they waited for the real replacement for Mito-sama to arrive. That person, who turned out to be Kushina, didn't come in time and with the elderly Uzumaki growing wearier by the day, the council and Sandaime couldn't wait any longer.

Minato accepted that role of the temporary Jinchuriki because his relation to the Senju clan, although diluted a couple generations. He had enough reserves to contain the Kyuubi in at nine years old. Thanks to said Senju blood in his veins, he would survive an extraction as long as the monster fox's chakra didn't fully mix with his own. With Jiraya-sensei, they designed a seal without a filter so that the two chakra wouldn't mix and thus keep Minato's life moderately safe when the next transfer occurred. Unfortunately, when Kushina did arrive, Mito-sama had already passed away and she had been terrified of becoming the next carrier of the Nine-Tails. Naturally, only the Uzumaki clansmen could properly hold the beast completely without problem. He had suffered a lot of complications mental-wise with the fox sealed in him.

Still, he had understood the red-haired teen's worry and told the Sandaime he would carry the burden instead.

But now, Naruto was telling him something opposite. Was it maybe that the Kushina of his time accepted her role as the second container? If so, it made sense. But, just to be sure, he needed to tell the boy and ask his apparent question. "Naruto... I believe there are some differences in our...timelines. You claimed Kushina carried the fox but in this time, I was the one who did. Twelve years ago, I was asked to become a temporary carrier until your mother arrived to Konoha."

This confused the boy more than he ever wanted to. "But the Kyuubi's chakra is like extremely potent. If this is going back to when Senju Hashirama's wife, Uzumaki Mito, was alive, that meant you'd have been really little and stuff. I thought only those of the Uzumaki clan or newborn babies could contain him."

Minato nodded. "That's correct. Originally, Mito-sama sent a letter to her original home nation, Uzushiogakure, for another who could fulfill the role of carrying the Nine-Tails. The clan leaders apparently chose Kushina for it because of her larger than average reserves. However, there had been complications with her arrival and Mito-sama's health had been declining each day. The clan heads and council were getting worried that the seal would break because she was getting closer to her death." The Fourth paused to let his version of the tale sink in. When he still had Naruto's attention, he went on. "Because of that, there was a meeting that would decide to select someone or two in Konoha that had at least half the reserves Mito-sama possessed while they waited for Kushina to arrive. When I was examined the first time I arrived in Konoha, I was told I had very large reserves for a child my age and was considered lucky. When this information was transferred to the meeting that day, it was a done deal. I was chosen to carry the Nine-Tails temporarily. Of course, I had been asked by the Sandaime if I would accept the role or not.

"At first, I was afraid but when I realized that something bad would happen if I didn't at least try, I accepted. I did because it would be me that kept the Kyuubi prisoner until his real jailor revealed themselves. Kushina eventually did arrive but it was a week after the transfer had been completed and Mito-sama passed away. She was frightened and couldn't accept the burden, so I told Sarutobi-sama that I would continue holding the fox."

Naruto said nothing, hardly breathed, when his father relayed his story to him. That...That was _definitely_ different than how it went for him. His father had been the Jinchuriki rather than his mother. It took some time to process it all, sort it out and match it up with his own version of the tale. Things were different here. It was as if the decisions in his world...if they didn't happen, then what happened here could have been done there. The same was probably likewise. "Wow... It's all so different than what I know." He managed to say after a full minute and a half of awkward silence.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Apparently, mom arrived...on time in my, um...world. So she carried the fox instead."

"Hm. Then, I was right. Some things that happen here probably never did in your time and viceversa." Minato mused a bit.

"Huh, that's weird..." Naruto trailed, frowning a little. He wondered if his younger self would have never become the Kyuubi container had he not come to this time. His father would have still carried the fox and he'd have a normal childhood. Wait a minute...

"Hey Dad? If you have the fox, then um... how come we had been fighting it?"

His father's eyes sharpened a little but it wasn't a glare aimed at him. Thank goodness—it was pretty frightening to be under it. "That man that pulled you out of his...eyes—"

"The Kamui," Naruto interjected.

Minato raised an eyebrow but accepted the correction with a nod. "Right. When he did, he was about to unseal your Kyuubi to unleash havoc. I intercepted him using my Hiraishin but his hand came from nowhere and pushed into my chest, where my seal originally was. I made the mistake of staring into his eyes, the Sharingan, and he nearly ripped the entire Nine-Tails from me." An unsettling frown donned his face. "Kushina...she used her remaining strength to shove him away before the forced extraction was complete. Her sacrifice helped me survive, allowed me to keep half of the Kyuubi in, but not without a price."

Naruto also frowned and glared at nothing in particular. "Mom...she...she's...gone, huh...?" A silent, slow nod was his response and the future blond groaned in frustration. "Damn. Nothing in my life can ever work out, can it?"

Minato didn't admonish his son's language this time. He still felt guilty about it, still felt at fault. But, the promise he made to his deceased wife allowed him to carry through. She wanted him to take care of both of their boys, regardless if one wasn't supposed to be where he is. After hearing his older son had died naturally in his own world and that he'd return to the dead if he tried sending him back, brought a shiver down the Yondaime's back. The world would be imbalanced if he stayed, but it was a possibility it wouldn't. Again, it hadn't rolled over and quit yet so perhaps it was safe for his nineteen-turned-six year old to remain here.

Remain here safe with him.

"I'm sorry, Naruto."

"...It's...it's going to be okay."

"I hope so. Now that I know some of your story, I decided it wouldn't be right to send you back. I don't want to take any chances with being the one to kill you again essentially." He offered a smile of reassurance to him. "It looks like you're stuck here with me and your...younger self."

The future boy met his father's eyes and a wide, foxy grin spread across his face. All right, so his mother was dead. It still saddened him because he always wanted both of his parents there with him. It looks like his little self wouldn't have a mom either, but at least he'd have his dad. Naruto was going to make sure Minato lived. This was too good to be true! He could be with his dad! And he could spoil his little self silly. "You mean it?"

"Yes."

"YES!" the boy whooped but immediately regretted it when a sharp pain came from his stomach. He groaned and lied back down. "Guess the excitement's too much for the pain to handle," he chuckled a bit.

"Please be careful, Naruto."

"I will, Dad. Anyway, so since you're not the Kyuubi Jinchuriki and there's no way I'll let you tell the bastard councilmen-"

"_Language_, Naruto."

"-ergh, sorry, but they really get on my nerves. Well, there's no way I'll let you tell them your little Naruto is the new container. Tell them I'm the new one." Minato gave his son another pointed look that practically asked, 'are you sure?' The boy huffed and crossed his arms. "Trust me, dad. I've been in this position before, if you could tell. I can handle it a second time, dattebayo!"

The verbal tick made Minato's eye twitch slightly. Curse the Kushina dattebane genetics.

"If you're absolutely, one hundred percent sure..."

"Yes, yes I am. Plus with the seal I made on Naru-chan, no one other than other carriers can tell if there's a bijuu sealed in him. That and Kurama sealed in there is in a deep sleep. His chakra signature is being masked by Naru-chan's. Mine's similar, except I have the Shiki Fuin along with theRikudo no In no Chikara seal placed atop it and the Hakke no Fuin Shiki seal. So, people who are actually looking can see I'm the one." Naruto stated factually. Hearing the Shiki Fuin and given Naruto's reaction that day about stopping him from killing himself, Minato guessed that he had sacrificed himself to seal the Kyuubi in his son in his time and left him abandoned. It was the only explanation of why this boy was desperate to keep him alive.

Knowing that made the Yondaime smile again.

"All right, Naruto. I'll do that. However, we'll need to come up with a cover story for your appearance. I can't hold off the council for long as they're demanding answers and getting frustrated that I'm stalling for time. I wanted you awake first before I did anything."

"Ah, right. Can't have two Uzumaki Naruto running around here. It'd draw unwanted attention." The boy chuckled at the thought. "Well, if I'd been in my nineteen year old body, I'd probably pass off as your younger brother. I was told I looked like your twin when I got older." Minato, once again, raised a curious brow which Naruto snickered to it. "Yeah, it was funny. Kakashi-sensei ever got me confused with you someti—"

"Kakashi-_sensei_?" Minato repeated incredulously.

Naruto smirked. "Yeah. Kakashi eventually became my sensei of my time's Team Seven. Pretty funny, huh?"

The Yondaime shook his head. He could hardly believe that because the boy, despite being a jonin and could be assigned a genin team, outright refused his offers. Even when he ordered him to, Kakashi would flunk the genins and return to his own devices. '_Heh, at least I know Kakashi, at some point, eventually took on a team and passed them._' "I'll have to ask you about that another time. First, let's get you into your new alias."

"Already got one," Naruto said proudly. He had been thinking about it when the topic came up not even a few minutes ago. He thought back to when Tobi used a prototype Infinite Tsukuyomi on him and Sakura, sending them to an alternate version of their world. His counterpart was odd but now he'd use that name for himself. '_In a way, gotta thank you for that, Obito._' Minato waited patiently for his future son to speak again. "I'll go by Uzumaki Menma."

"Seems sound, but it wouldn't do if you had Naruto-kun's last name."

"Well, why not? And isn't he going to have your last name?"

"Hm, well, yes. I originally was going to have him named after his mother's clan name since they were all but wiped out. I don't exactly have a clan anymore either, as the Namikaze were simple farmers from the Senju line."

Naruto gaped at him. "Wait, the Senju line? How is that?" Then an awful thought crossed his mind again. "Y-you're not Tsunade-baachan's son are you!?" While he loved the gambler, he wasn't sure if being directly related to her was a good thing or not.

That threw Minato off. THAT was unexpected! "N-no. Tsunade-sama isn't my mother. Granted, we're somewhat related but only because her granduncle, Senju Tobirama, is related to me, albeit a couple generations down."

Naruto sighed heavily. Whew, familial crisis diverted. Still, that meant Tsunade-baachan was somewhat related to him and his dad. Maybe cousins three times removed? Or something like that? "So, you're technically related to Baachan, right?"

His father nodded. "Yes. We've tried figuring out the relation but ended up discarding it because, to me, it wasn't too important. Just knowing she was family in some way was reassuring." Naruto smiled at that. So, that meant he was related to the Sannin as well. She did always look at him like a brother; looks like their strong relationship—in his time at least—wasn't too far off!

"Hah, that means I'm related to her too. That's cool! Anyway, uh, I guess I'll take on Namikaze Menma then. Since I'm too little, unfortunately, to be your little brother... maybe I can pass off as being your nephew?" He looked up to his father with innocent eyes. Even his younger self, who had been quiet, echoed the same look. To Minato, it felt like he was seeing double—and he was literally!

"Hm, it could work. We can also put in that we have a blood test ready to prove it."

"Right. Also, since my sudden appearance in the fight with the Kyuubi was so weird, perhaps the story of me being an orphan that was raised in the Land of Wind and I was trained by a couple of shinobi before I set off to find family. I could have been told that I looked similar to the Yellow Flash of Konohagakure no Sato, and with that word, I'd want to travel to meet you. When I came upon Konoha's land, the Kyuubi had been attacking the village. That's when I would jump in to help fight it. If asked why I assisted, it can be said that I saw you trying to hold it off and recognized you from pictures the shinobi that trained me had in their Bingo Books. I would assume that you were family and persuaded you to seal the Kyuubi inside me to protect the village." Naruto explained, turning to his own 'Hokage mode'. Minato blinked at the cover story's simplicity. There were a couple holes in it, but how it was presented, the older blond couldn't help but marvel at it.

"Sounds good to me, Naruto. We'll need to fix the story a little bit so it's believable with no cracks in it. The council will more or less try to poke their own holes into it and we need to have as many counter arguments against it as possible." Had Naruto not told him he was originally nineteen, and been the Hokage in his time, he'd have thought the kid was crazy.

"Right. We can work on that after lunch. Um, I can get something to eat, right?"

Minato smiled. "Of course, Naruto. I'll get all of us something to eat. Mm, I'll have to start calling you 'Menma' soon."

"Yeah, you will. But I guess in private, you can still call me 'Naruto' only if you want to. Just not when the tyke's nearby or he'll get confused. I don't want to take his name or anything." the future blond said.

"All right, then. I'll get us something to eat. Can you hold onto Naruto-kun for the time being?"

"Sure!"

Minato handed the infant to his older self, which the Hokage was still trying to get used to, and watched the instant reaction. Baby Naruto giggled the moment he was in the Kid Naruto's grasp. It must be their 'connection' that they relayed emotions to one another somehow. The future boy was smiling, happy to be in the baby's presence and the latter was just as joyous. Minato was sure he made the right choice in keeping his time-traveling offspring here. It would do his newborn a lot more good than bad and he'd have and older brother figure to help him.

"I'll be right back. Is there anything in particular that you'd like?" Minato asked as he headed for the door. He'd get anything for his kids. Naruto turned his smile to his father and grinned toothily.

"Yeah. Hadn't had any ramen lately! A miso ramen would be great!"

On second thought... Minato half-frowned, half-chuckled. "Naruto, don't tell me you inherited our love for ramen?"

"Hey, I blame the genetics!" the six-year-old scowled back. "It's your guys' fault!"

The Fourth Hokage sighed but decided to let the subject drop. The boy had been cooped up in the hospital for two weeks now and he deserved some good food. Surely the nurses wouldn't mind if he brought takeout to his...nephew. Before he was fully out of the door, Minato glanced back at his boys from the corner of his eyes. Their reaction to another was heartwarming and cute. He never wanted to set them apart now. He would be their father, their shoulder to lean on, their pillar. Even if one was already grown up. '_Don't worry, Naruto. I'll do everything in my power to protect you. The both of you. I will keep Kushina's promise close to my heart and keep you both close to me. You will never be alone again._'

Namikaze Minato left the room and slowly closed the door.

* * *

**AN:** Ne, really long though! But got some stuff out of the way. Hopefully this was explained clearly. Coming up in the next chapter is the dreaded council meeting, Menma!Naruto and Baby Naruto cutesy interactions for the lulz, the older Naruto trying to convince his father to give him his jonin rank and the meetings of Itachi, Kakashi and Obito! Can't wait for that.

Until next time~


	4. Giusto

**AN:** Ne, thanks for the reviews for chapter 3. I take it all with stride to up my writing capabilities. As for the Menma name, it just seemed like the best one to use, given its origin and all. Haha, funny that some of you mentioned Rin. Hah, um.

My deepest apologies if things are confusing or starting to, and if I don't get technical with my explanations. Not my intention but I wanted the reasons of why things are happening to come to later on when future!Naruto is 'settled' in. Anyway, let the council meeting (and other stuff) begin! Enjoy chapter 4~

Edited: 8/14/2014

* * *

Giusto

4

* * *

Wednesday, October 29 400 NE

Unknown Location

Several figures that met up in this strange place, each ranging from different height to gender. However, one thing they all had in common was that they wore black cloaks with a dark, navy blue cloud stitched upon the edges. When it appeared all of them were assembled, one of the mysterious figures, a young female's, spoke up. "Leader-sama, the Kyuubi Jinchuriki couldn't be captured?"

"No. As we've calculated many times over, the man is out of our league. After attempting to break him emotionally, it wasn't enough to completely draw the Kyuubi out of its seal." A grunt of sorts was heard before the second voice continued. "Using the Tekkai no Shiru Jutsu [1] proved extremely useful. Using the Sharingan to gain temporary entrance into the Jinchuriki's mind, I was able to successfully to infiltrate momentarily and gain control to distort the seal. Drawing out the Kyuubi became easier than expected because of the technique."

"Hm, that means our efforts into creating it was worthwhile. We would be able to extract the bijuu from their hosts much faster this way than using the _other_ extraction method." Another voice, a relatively younger male's, said.

"Correct. Testing it on the Yondaime was quite...exciting, despite my attempt being thwarted by that irksome wench of his." The leader of the apparent figures spoke once more. "There's more; our summoning efforts also haven't been a waste." A collection of gasps resounded, prompting him to continue. "I was able to perform the summon, the Isen Tasekai konbaku no Jutsu [2]. It pulled a soul from an integrated, parallel dimension that closely resembled ours. The soul in question contained strong fragments ideally similar to the Kyuubi Jinchuriki. However, when I pulled it out, it was just that; a drifting soul towards the afterlife."

"If it was already dead, then it's pretty much useless to us, isn't it?"

The leader chuckled. "No, not so. When it was pulled out, it began to take mold itself into shape. The ability in which it did so appeared similarly to the privileged Rinnegan's. The soul was much older than I thought; it was a man's body. Now, the strangest part is how it couldn't maintain that 'form', if you will and abruptly shifted into its weakest state; a child's body." He paused to allow the others to have the information sink in. "Infuriating enough, when it finished, I recognized that it looked like the Yondaime all over again, only in a smaller body with strange marks on his face."

Silence.

"Well, it contained the Kyuubi, didn't it?"

"Yes. Yes the...boy, I suppose, did carry it. In fact, I sensed two presences of the Kyuubi inside."

"Sir. If this boy had...two of them, wouldn't this throw the world off balance?" the second voice questioned seriously.

"Yes, it would, but the two presences were originally one entity, just split asunder. Unfortunate that I was unable to find the cause of such, but think about it; if we have the boy's Kyuubi, we would be able to overpower the Jinchuriki of this time, as we already have majority of the bijuu captured. The only ones we are missing is the Ichibi, Gobi and the Hachibi, all three guarded heavily and two of the three are shinobi in their respective villages."

"...Does this mean we have _two_ Kyuubi to deal with?" Another asked, almost sounding like they paled.

"Yes, it does." the leader replied in a matter-of-fact tone. "However, extracting half of Namikaze Minato's Kyuubi left him with the other half. The remaining half that I was able to obtain from him was under my control until he came back, surprisingly not as weakened as I imagined he would be, and wrestled the beast from my grasp, gravely wounding me. It seemed the Yondaime was going preparing to seal the remainder of it into his son for whatever reason until the...future Jinchuriki took it in for himself, again, for whatever reason."

Upon hearing this, some of the members of the situated group partially groaned or had or mixed feelings about this. "That means that brat has twice as much in him."

"Or maybe it just fused with his other ones?"

"Hm, a possibility..."

The woman from before decided to speak again, hoping to change the subject. "Sir, isn't the Gobi's host an Uchiha?"

"Yes. A forced one during the last war after being captured by Iwa and a few Kiri-nin. His own Sharingan would be a problem when extracting the bijuu from him as it can detect the effects of another and thus block the technique."

Another male sighed in light frustration. "He will be a nuisance to deal with in the future."

"Yes," the head of the group replied once again, "Unfortunately, the Kyuubi Jinchuriki of the parallel dimension was taken by ours and has been brought into Konoha. It will be extremely difficult to contain the boy with him by the Yondaime's hip at all times."

"So," another man's voice, "we'll need to devise a plan to draw the brat out."

"Of course. But, we must plan carefully. The boy, when I fought him, appeared to recognize me. It should be impossible but perhaps, from his world, he had seen similar and was reminded of it. He will be wary."

"Right, Leader-sama. Shall we begin our plans now?"

"Yes. The sooner the better. Everyone else, return to your posts and report anything on the remaining Jinchuriki. Dismissed."

* * *

Saturday, November 1 400 NE

11:27 am

* * *

Two days ago, Naruto—or, now known as Namikaze Menma—and the infant Naruto were finally omitted from the hospital. Minato had personally 'came to his rescue' as he put it and was happy to get out of that place. Menma drunk in the familiar sights of the beloved Konoha when he exited the dreaded hospital's doors. It brought a peaceful and warm feeling to his heart. It may not be _his_ Konoha, but he'd do his best to keep it safe. During his time recovering in the hospital (he'd already healed up but he stayed anyway until Naru-chan was all checked up), he relayed a lot—but not all—of information to his father, detailing things that happened in his time, courtesy of the Yondaime's pestering him to tell him about his life. There were no other words Menma could use to describe 'pestering' because, even if he was the Hokage, Minato still had a...side to him that the time-traveler thought he'd never have.

Still, during the explanations, Minato listened with rapt attention, noting down the important factors of his future son's time. Upon hearing of the Akatsuki and their intentions in the other world, Minato was happy to correct his child that in this time, the Akatsuki were a group of peacemakers in Amegakure, and that he had formed an alliance with their proclaimed leader named Yahiko. It was thanks to Jiraya-sensei, as he informed, that he was able to learn of their cause and fully support them.

This change made Menma think; he knew that the Akatsuki's original goal in his time had aimed a promising claim for peace. If this was so, it was fine in his book. One less 'disaster' to deal with, he called it. However, the next, closest event would be the Uchiha Massacre. Thanks to having read up on that as the Rokudaime in his time, Menma was able to give a decent recalling of the incident, written by Sarutobi Hiruzen when he was alive. Minato noted to have that investigated in a couple years time. His son hadn't given a perfect date, but his close estimation was all they could work off on. The boy also pleaded like the child he was to have the new Team Seven to be reformed but to let him be their jonin sensei when his class of Rookie 9 graduated.

It was more so for personal attachment reasons that he wanted to take on being their sensei. After all, he was technically _still_ of jonin rank, given his flak he took with him. Thankfully, it hadn't been too damaged. Minato had even sealed up his old clothes before he omitted them all to the hospital. Much to his ire, he was unable to convince his father to give him the rightfully earned jonin rank when he was (re)instated as a Konoha shinobi. Namely because the council would be wary of him and it would cause political issues the Hokage didn't want to deal with.

"It also depends if you're accepted, which I have no doubt you will be, so I'll think about it." He had told the eager boy. He would consider it, given how much he told them of his old teammates, Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke—both who were just babies now—and his attachment to them. He wanted to mold them into the powerful ninja they had been in his time, which Minato didn't mind. With how the world was, they needed such strength in the shinobi in their ranks. The Yondaime asked his future son if he was all right with 'seeing his loved ones again' like it is, and the time-traveler simply replied he was fine and it would ease him knowing if he were there to help them and see their growth.

That, and he personally wanted to train Naru-chan when he got older.

At the revelation of his father considering his proposition, Menma grinned excitedly then muttered something about a "curse of C-rank escort missions" and "evil cats". Minato just laughed at the last one.

Once Minato was able to escape—er, leave the hospital after the medics evaluated his health, he set out to purchase clothes for Naruto-kun to dress and bundle him appropriately in warm clothes. October was a chilly month in its own right; it was a couple months away from the harsh winter after all. Little Naruto was wearing a light blue onesie underneath a white, long sleeve shirt, comfortable pants, socks and booties—much to Menma's laughter when he came back with them—a small, warm hat, coat _and _another orange blanket. Menma questioned if all of that was extremely necessary or if Minato's mother henning was starting to show up. The Hokage shot him a look and the teenager-turned-boy snickered after shutting up.

He also purchased a new set of clothes for Menma. It was a simple white shirt with a red Uzumaki swirl on the back, khaki half-calf trousers, blue sandals and, upon the boy's personal request, matching goggles. Menma snickered to himself when said item was clearly the same ones he had in his former childhood.

The trio had been met with many civilians and shinobi alike, who greeted their Hokage and eventually stared at the infant in his arms and the small boy by his side. Minato still wanted to get around to helping the people rebuild Konoha from the Kyuubi attack. The Yondaime explained to his son/nephew that he'd have to come to the council meeting with him as well as one of his students, Uchiha Obito. Apparently, both were involved in the fight and explanations needed to be done. Menma understood this, having been subjected to the council on more than one occasion during his short-lived reign as Hokage in his time. Minato promised he'd make the necessary forms for Menma's citizenship after the meeting. A couple minutes of shadowing the construction of Konoha, an ANBU appeared, alongside the Hokage's former students with them. It was a light surprise to see his third student, Nohara Rin, with them. She must have returned from her long-term mission with her team with the necessary reports. Good timing.

"R-Rin?" came Obito's surprised voice, stammering from the left of Kakashi. The aforementioned kunoichi, a brown haired young woman and medic-nin under the tutelage of Senju Tsunade, one of the Sannin, turned and smiled at him, and the Uchiha blushed in response. "H-hey, you're back from your mission. G-Glad to see you, hehe."

"Yes. I arrived last night, Obito-kun. I know it's been a long time since I was last here, and Minato-sensei informed of me of the news regarding Kushina-neechan and the village..." She looked down somberly as did the other two students of the Yondaime. The red-haired kunoichi treated them all like her little siblings and made them feel like a complete family. "I...wish I had returned sooner. I would have helped and—and Kushina-neechan would have..."

"Don't," Rin looked up at her ex-teacher when he stopped her from continuing, "You were away on a mission. There was no way you could have known," Minato put a halt on his former student from berating herself. "It's going to be...hard for me, for us, to accept her tragic passing. She meant a lot to us, especially me. As long as we do not forget her, she will continue to live through us." Menma, from the side, watched the interaction between his father's students and the man himself. It was almost like a piece of history he'd never experience anywhere else was unfolding right before his eyes. Almost as if noticing another set of eyes were on her, Rin looked down and spotted a, what she thought, was a mini-clone of her sensei. Well, if cutting the cute little whisker marks he had one his adorable face...wait.

"Um...sensei? If I'm not mistaken, there's a mini-you here," the medic-nin wasn't sure how to really put this. Was this boy a relative of his? Obito and Kakashi already noticed the smaller blond but said nothing. They were still—and rightfully so—suspicious of him.

"Ah, right," Minato gathered their attention, "Rin-chan, there's been a council meeting called and I have to attend to it. First, I'd like you to meet my nephew, Namikaze Menma." Said boy offered a hopeful smile and nodded to the three in respect. They were his father's students and he needed to be a kid again in order for his role to work.

"Kakashi-kun and Obito-kun, I know you have met him before, though that was during your assignment." Both nodded. "Well, how about you three introduce yourselves? I know we're on short time, but I wish for you four to be acquainted." The three teens understood their sensei's words. Now, they turned their full attention to the child and each of their own facial expressions that told Menma everything; Rin's kind smile had him believe she didn't think he was suspicious, Kakashi's stare, which he determined the Hatake still was swimming with his thoughts, and Obito's strange, _knowing_ look that he didn't miss. What did this Uchiha know? It was kind of unsettling. Whatever it was, he figured he would find out. For now, he had an innocent kid role to play.

"Nice to meet you all!" He chirped in his kami-awful high pitch voice. Gods, he couldn't wait until he hit puberty again!

"It's nice to meet you as well, Menma-kun," Rin greeted. "I'm Nohara Rin, a medic-nin."

"Hatake Kakashi," the silver-haired jonin said in a half bored tone. "A jonin. Good to meet you formally."

"Hey, squirt," Menma eye twitched to the nickname "Good to see you're up from that lame hospital room. Name's Uchiha Obito, aiming to become the Godaime Hokage after sensei!" the chunin pronounced convincingly. Menma smiled at them all; seeing all his father's former students in one place was sort of surreal. These teens led different lives than their unfortunate counterparts in his time. They were alive here, but only one survived in his world. It was a refreshing change from all the doom and gloom. Once the quick introductions were done, Minato got their attention again.

"Now, you three are the only ones I trust besides the Sandaime. I have a personal request to make for you and Kakashi, Rin." The Yondaime said, tilting the baby in his arms for them to see.

Rin gasped when she saw the little baby with her sensei. She automatically knew this child belonged to, given the small turf of fair locks poking out from under his cap. She had sparkles in her eyes. Menma saw her expression and shuddered. He sent many silent apologies to his younger self. When women have that look in their eye, it only means that they were on a mission. A mission to spoil kids rotten. "Oh, my! Sensei, he's adorable! This is Naruto, right?"

"Yes."

"Mm, what would you like for us to do, Minato-sensei?" Kakashi asked, paying full attention and not reading his Icha Icha. In front of Rin, it was considered taboo and a sin against nature and she made it point and clear to keep those 'evil perverted things' away from her. To this day, she couldn't figure out how her usually stoic teammate got into those disgusting books. She blamed and cursed Jiraya-sama with all her heart for writing them.

Minato's smile turned serious. "I need for you two to watch and look after Naruto-kun. I have a meeting with the council and, as I said, I can only trust you two. Including you, Obito." He added towards the Uchiha, who nodded.

"Of course, sensei! We'll do it!" Rin volunteered herself and Kakashi. "Don't worry about the necessities; I'll pick them up on the way!" Minato appreciated her sincerity and with heavy reluctance, gave her the bundled up child.

"Thank you Rin-chan, Kakashi-kun. It would be prudent to stay at my place for the time being." She and Kakashi nodded before leaving with Naruto. "Obito, Menma, let's go. The councilmen are waiting for us."

"Hai." Both said, not sounding too excited. Minato sighed; he really couldn't blame them for what was to come. He turned to the ANBU who had been waiting patiently for new orders. "Please return to the council room and prepare two additional seats for my two guests. They must be present during the meeting."

"Hai, Hokage-sama." The ANBU then shunshin'd away to do as told.

* * *

Council Room

11:30 am

* * *

Minato, along with the ANBU, Obito and Menma, entered the council room where the several people were adamantly chattering away, most likely about the events that unfolded over the past couple weeks. The room was composed of a large interior; double doors led inside while outside was a long hallway that stretched out. Multiple rooms filled the building, but this room was the most important and often visited. On one side of the open table in the center of the room, where many councilmen on the civilian side while on the opposite side were the clan heads and other shinobi. The representing clan heads were Aburame Shibi, Akimichi Chouza, Hyuuga Hiashi, Inuzuka Tsume, Kurama Murakumo [3], Nara Shikaku, Sarutobi Hiruzen—the former Hokage now representing his clan, Uchiha Fugaku and Yamanaka Inoichi. The Konoha Three Councilors consisted of Mitokado Homura, Shimura Danzo and Utatane Koharu; all three had been appointed as advisors when the Sandaime was elected for the position by the Nidaime.

The tension was already high before they got there and when they did enter, most of the chatter stopped. Minato was wearing his Hokage robes and hat, and alongside him was a small boy they didn't recognize and Uchiha Obito. Seeing the teenaged chunin of his own clan, Fugaku shot him a heated glare. Obito grimaced when he saw his clan leader's gaze upon him.

As expected, the sight of the two not-council members coming along did not go by unnoticed.

"Hokage-sama? Is there a reason Uchiha Obito and this... child are with you?" A rather bold ninja from the Shinobi council asked. He was met with an icy stare from the Yondaime and he flinched back.

"Yes, there is." Minato directed the two to sit down in the provided chairs on the left hand side of his own seat that rested behind a half-circular table in the front. Menma ignored all the stares he was getting and promptly went to his assigned seat alongside Obito. He knew this room by heart, even if it was rearranged a bit differently than how he and the Sandaime had it. Ah well; this wasn't his Konoha council so he wouldn't bother.

Obito, however, was trying his best to avert his eyes from meeting the harsh glares he was receiving from Fugaku. The man was his uncle and ever since his parents were killed in the aftermath of the Third Shinobi World War, he and his aunt Mikoto had allowed him to live with them. He'd taken up some responsibilities such as looking after his cousin Itachi and his friend, Shisui before the latter became a, to quote a Nara, troublesome child to watch when he wasn't out on missions. It had been difficult to stay with them after the conflict of the third war because he was keeping a huge secret from his clan members, _especially_ from his uncle. He wanted the Sandaime to keep it as S-class secret as possible because he was afraid of what his friends and family would think of him if they knew the burden that he carried, that was forcibly shoved into him. Holding a secret within the Uchiha clan was a terrible 'no-no' and now that it was discovered in the worst way possible. Obito was regretting not saying anything before.

'_At least I'm not alone though..._' he thought in consolation of his situation.

Once Minato was in his seat, the doors to the council room were closed. A pair of ANBU stood outside the doors and another pair guarded the door from within. Several others were hidden throughout the room. The Yondaime flashed through signs to activate the privacy seals; the room littered with the blue markings until they faded from sight. When he received the attention of the members within the room, Minato began to speak.

"Before we begin, I'd like to thank you all for taking time out of your schedules and come to this meeting. The purpose of this gathering is to discuss the important topics of recent, beginning with the attack on Konoha by the Kyuubi no Kitsune." He paused lightly before continuing. "As you all know, I had once been the carrier of the fox, but I'm here to tell you that I am no longer its Jinchuriki."

Many occupants of the room began chattering away, all in confusion mostly. Their Kage was speaking in past tense. How? Why?

"Hokage-sama, if this is true, then where is the beast?" one of the civilian members asked.

"Pardon my bluntness sir but how is it that you are still living? To our understanding, we thought an extraction of any kind would kill the host." another questioned. More talk between the others carried on. Before it could escalate further, Minato stopped them.

"It's true. If a bijuu is extracted from its host, the host will die. However, the reason why I am still standing and in front of you all is because of this child," his eyes turned to Menma who met his gaze, "his name is Namikaze Menma."

Silence.

'_Here it comes_.' Both Minato and Menma silently said in unison.

Then the predicted uproar exploded.

Many shouts of "WHAT" and "How can this be" along with several other exclamations erupted throughout the room. Obito groaned, Menma twitched and Minato looked unfazed as usual when dealing with these people. With a well placed, vicious glare and leaking of his killing intent, the others flinched—the civilians nearly wet themselves at the intensity—and silenced.

"Before any of you question or doubt this boy's identity, it has been confirmed by Senju Tsunade, the head medic of Konoha's Hospital. She discovered this through a blood test after deducing the resemblances between myself and Menma." After he spoke, he provided a scroll for the members to look at for proof. Of course, he wasn't going to tell them that they, he and his future son, had caught Tsunade at the moment of her nearly walking in on them while discussing of their different timelines and roped her into it. Since she heard some of the information, Menma went ahead and decided that she would prove a valuable asset to their plan to secure the future Naruto's believable identity cover. They relayed the details of Naruto's unintentional dimension-hopping. At first, Tsunade thought both of them were crazy until Naruto provided information that nobody but the Sannin knew.

It was tough for her to accept, but she got over it and agreed to their plan. With her medical prowess, Tsunade was able to alter a few of Naruto's cells, mostly of his mother Kushina's, so he wouldn't be directly related to the younger Naruto but close enough to be considered a relative of Minato's, preferably the nephew route they were suggesting. With that completed, they ran a physical blood test that would prove the future Naruto was related to Minato by nephew and that he and the infant Naruto were first cousins once removed. Strange family strategy but the two blonds agreed to it. But again, Minato wasn't going to inform the council of that.

During said testing that day, Kurama decided to be chuckling ass and reveal to his host that he was actually five years old and not six as they believed him to be, much to Naruto's ire and Minato's laughter.

"As you can all see through the perfected DNA testing, it shows that Menma is my nephew." He looked over at everyone's expressions and many had their eyes narrowed, perhaps wondering if the paper had a genjutsu over it, at least on the Shinobi portion. The Civilian portion, however, looked disbelieving at the information but all in all, the council were headed towards reluctant acceptance. Minato nodded when he saw their gazes return to him. "Now, during the Kyuubi's attack, it had been under a genjutsu by a masked man that I know for a fact was an Uchiha," several eyes went straight to Fugaku and by extension, Obito as both stiffened at the relayed news. "It is possible that he could have been a member of the Uchiha clan and perhaps went rogue. That is a possibility. However this is possible still puzzles me, but I have faith that none of the current Uchiha clansmen were responsible. Do not blame _any_ of the Uchiha for this conflict; they are innocent." At this, Fugaku and Obito heavily sighed in relief. Menma glanced around to the clan heads, observing their expressions, especially Danzo's. No matter what lifetime or dimension, that man would be a thorn in his side.

As Naruto back in his home, the old war hawk was a menace and was the one who forced Itachi's hand to kill everyone in his clan. He was the reason the most loyal Uchiha in Konoha's history became a missing-nin and eventually killed by his revenge-filled brother, Sasuke. He wouldn't allow such a corruption to happen again. If he was right, Menma deduced Itachi to be around his age. That meant he was most likely enrolled in the academy and perhaps he had a chance to befriend the stoic Uchiha prodigy. It was worth a shot; if worst came to worst and Danzo somehow tried to enact the same scenario of the massacre here, he would be Itachi's voice of reason and talk him out of it.

Even though he had his father's support with preventing the coup d'etat that would lead to the Uchiha's demise, he wanted to stop the person who would become that man and slaughter them all, just to protect his younger brother. Both of them didn't deserve such a fate. Hah, he really needed to stop copying Neji. Focusing back to the meeting, Menma kept his ears open as the discussion carried on.

"This also means I had a sibling during the aftermath of the Second Shinobi World War. How this is possible is beyond my own knowledge, however, these tests do not lie. As such, I am placing Namikaze Menma under my care."

The councilmen, while most were frowning, begrudging accepted their Hokage's words. Hell, the boy did look like him, now that they got a good look and compared. The only thing that stood out was the whisker-like marks on the boy's face. Noticing their expressions, Menma smirked but hid it quickly. It wouldn't do to have them become more hostile and suspicious of him, even though the identity crisis was partially over.

However, one question from the shinobi side came about.

"Hokage-sama, how is it that this child, Namikaze Menma, is the reason why you are here?"

"And what about the Kyuubi? If you're not holding it, then where is it?!" another asked, indignantly.

Minato regarded the questions and nodded, then turned to Menma. This was one of the questions they had prepared for, albeit worded a bit differently. Nonetheless, the answer they cooked up for this one. "If you will, Menma will answer the first question as I was incapacitated from the extraction by the masked man. After he is finished, I will answer the second." Nodding, Menma stared at the council members and spoke; it was time to play the 'I'm a kid but I have shinobi-trained skills' act.

"Well, child? How did you?" Homura asked, giving the boy a light, but critical, eye.

"Um, if it makes better sense, it would be better if I told you all my story first. It kind of leads up to how I met your Hokage, later confirmed to be my uncle." Menma said in his convincing voice. Everyone shared a look with another before letting the boy continue on. It would provide information on how he arrived in the Land of Fire. "Okay... Well, to start out, I am actually an orphan. I was living in a village within the Land of Wind for three years. I suppose I was abandoned by my parents or they had been killed during skirmishes, I think." He knew he was reeling them in. Hah, it was great to play the 'innocent' child. "I was living in that village's orphanage for some time. Around a certain time at night, we have to be inside or else we get in trouble. I didn't come inside on time and that was when some thugs tried to kidnap me. I was saved by some shinobi. I later learned that the people who tried to take me were actually shinobi from Iwagakure." Some of the ninja from the Shinobi side shared their versions of a gasp or surprise.

"Well, the nice ninja that saved me apparently thought it was a good idea to show me some ninja stuff they do, like I guess kids my age learn to do in schools in the bigger villages—"

"Who were these people?" Danzo cut the boy off, wanting to know who and why.

"Danzo-san, do not interrupt," Minato cut in, his blue eyes glaring at the bandaged man. Said male sat back and grimly nodded.

"My apologies, Hokage-sama."

Turning back to Menma, Minato gave him the 'OK' to resume. And as such, he did.

"Um...I don't know, sir. They never gave me their names. I did ask but they said that if they told me, they would have to kill me, so I didn't ask anymore after that. A-anyway...um, they had a lot of scrolls with them and ink and such, I guess they were good at making seals. One of them said I had large chakra reserves and that if I was taught right, I could mold it correctly and be capable of using jutsu. But my chakra control was chaotic, as they said, so they trained me." Menma took a fake—but believable—deep breath to gather his thoughts together for the story. "They taught me chakra control exercises like climbing trees using it and the walking on the water one." The clan heads and shinobi were familiar with these techniques and understood while the civilians still looked suspicious.

"I was grateful for their training and attention. They seemed more like family to me because they helped me when nobody else would," not entirely a lie. There _had_ been people who were willing to help him and not shun him in his previously young life. "They really took care of me learning their jutsu. Their training schedule was really hard to follow but I did it because I said that one day I wanted to find out if I had any family outside of the village I stayed in. That's when I was told that I looked like a smaller version of Konoha's Yellow Flash." Menma gave a glance to the aforementioned who nodded in agreement that the boy's story was true.

"They thought that I might be related to him, hence why those Iwa-nins tried to kidnap me when I was younger. This was a year ago when I was informed of this information. The pair of ninja had a book with them, I guess it's the Bingo Book, and showed me the picture of the Yellow Flash and compared it to my appearance. That's when I thought that maybe the man could be a relative of mine." He stopped, glancing around the room as convincingly nervous as he could. He needed to keep up this act to gain their acceptance, as his father put it, so his reinstated citizenship would be easier. The less paperwork, the better. "U-uh...we left the village and began traveling to the Land of Fire. It took us a week and couple of days because other ninja from the Wind country attacked us. I think they were after the ninja who were taking me to Konoha. The day we were expecting to be close to Konoha is the night on October 10, and that the large beast, the Kyuubi?" He asked uncertainly, still trying to persuade the mass of the council. A collection of nods allowed him to go on.

"Well...it was really frightening and attacking a lot of other shinobi from the distance who looked like they were trying to fight it. The two ninja who were with me told me to hide while they tried to find a way around it. I... I disobeyed them, my two sensei, and I tried to go with them. One of the Kyuubi's tails were about to crush me but they saved me again... They pushed me out of the way and..." he looked down, clenching his fists while they sat in his lap. On the inside, he was smirking when he overheard a collection of sympathizing gasps. He was almost done with this story, and it was proving effective. Hell, even Danzo didn't interrupt. The man couldn't find any faults or holes in the story. Besides, who would question a child's story? He was skirting around with partially half truths and believable twists of lies. His deception skills he acquired in his 'previous' life were paying off. Of course, Menma knew he couldn't really flat out lie without a good reason and right now, proving himself to be his father's nephew was the goal.

Taking another breath, Menma looked up, eyes misted. He shared a look with his father who was most likely telling him, 'you're doing a good job, keep going'. He rubbed his eyes to clear away the tears that were forming; heck, he was believing his own story! "I... I didn't know what I was going to do, but I tried to help them. I tried my best to heal them with the jutsu they taught me. It wasn't e-enough. I...ran as fast as I could. I didn't know what direction I was headed but... then I tripped over something in my haste. When I turned back around, it was a man lying there as if he were dead. He looked dead. But, when I checked him, and sensed he had very little chakra in him. So I hurried and used the healing jutsu I learned and healed him... I-I suppose..." Menma performed his bashful expression and looked away. It was then that Minato took the reigns of the story.

"That's when I came to. The boy had actually used a form of the Chakra Transfer Technique, albeit in a stronger form. He may have sensed a very small portion of my spiritual chakra and converted his to power mine. However that is, it is unknown to both of us. After I thanked him, we both noticed the Kyuubi attacking Konoha and the front lines having trouble against holding it off. Naturally, I was going to finish the fight that I started but couldn't leave the child behind, thus I used Hiraishin to move him to a safer location where I moved my newborn son." Several were now chattering again. The Yondaime had a child? Why were they never informed? Sarutobi and Obito, however, already knew of Kushina's pregnancy. A clearing of a throat grabbed their anxious attention once more and the Hokage continued his explanation.

"I returned to the battlefield and fought the masked man once again where I wrestled control of the Kyuubi and gravely injured him. He managed to escape, knowing that I had to stop the bijuu from destroying the village. Using Hiraishin once more, I took the Kyuubi and myself further away from Konoha and set up a barrier around us. I used the Hiraishin once again to the location where I safely placed my son and the child at. The tremors from the fight caused the once safe haven to collapse, therefore I took both of them with me before it crushed them. As I was preparing to seal the Kyuubi within my son, the boy, Menma, asked me what I was doing and why.

"I couldn't answer him right away because every precious moment counted. I was prepared to used the Shikki Fuin on the Kyuubi, Sarutobi-sama will vouche for me of my earliest constructing plans, in case if the Kyuubi freed itself from my seal and another needed to reseal it." Minato glanced at Menma and sadly sighed to himself. He had been prepared to throw his life away and ask for a wish that would never be honored. Every time he looked at his future son, he was reminded of his story, of his willingness to stop him from performing the jutsu that would take him away from his only family. "This boy was persistent. In my desperation, I admit I had not been thinking clearly. I was willing to throw my life away to seal the Kyuubi and save Konoha at the cost of my life and believe in a wish that would have never been honored. My son would have been viewed as a demon and would have become the village pariah. Menma _convinced_ me to find another way to live and keep my son untainted by the Kyuubi.

"An idea, an untested, experimental sealing came to mind. It was an alternative to the Shikki Fuin, and while it wasn't strong enough to have the same effects as the original, it proved vital. So, instead of my son, I sealed the Kyuubi away into the closest, _willing_ person available to me."

He purposefully left the end cryptically. Obito, having listened with rapt attention, already knew who his sensei sealed the Kyuubi into. He shared a side glance at Menma, who caught his gaze and stared back. Menma was aware that Obito _knew_. The one that Kakashi-sensei of his time said that the Uchiha in his team was just like him when he was twelve. This Obito seemed smarter, wiser, sharper than the one Kakashi described. Even the older, twisted and eventually converted Obito he had fought alongside with in the Fourth Shinobi World War hadn't been _this_ calculative. It was kind of unnerving a bit.

The council members were about to ask when Hyuuga Hiashi, ever the observant, caught onto the clues thrown at him.

"Hokage-sama... you sealed the Kyuubi into that boy, Menma, didn't you?"

A smiting silence clouded the room. Minato knew this one answer would change the fate of his future son. But the boy was adamant about it when they spoke about this very moment. He said he could handle it, that he went through the horrors of it once he could do it again. The Yondaime protested as much as he could, tried to dissuade the nineteen-year-old-turned-boy a few times after their talk but he wouldn't budge. Resigning to this, Minato only had one thought, '_Naruto, I still don't like this...but here we go._' He glanced at everyone with a hardened gaze and answered, "Yes."

More chaos erupted.

"Does that make the child the demon now?"

"He'll turn into the monster one day, won't he!?"

"He's a freak! No wonder he has those whisker marks!"

"What if its possessing him now?"

"The Kyuubi might break out of the seal!"

"Hokage-sama! How could you allow it to come in here—!?"

"_Enough_!" Minato never raised his voice, but these idiots were seriously getting on his nerves, especially the damned civilian portion. Menma, used to the insults now, only stared at them with an impassive expression. '_Can't blame them on the whisker mark thing. It just proves that Kurama influenced me. Hah, a good back-up prop that made it more believable._' He thought.

"My nephew is _not_ the demon. He will not turn into one, either, just as I. Have you all forgotten that I had held the Kyuubi? Did I not turn out differently than what you are all hypocritically preaching about?" Minato sent out waves of killing intent, making the councilmen and even the ANBU guards shudder and wheeze from the severity of his emotion. In a way, they were insulting his son and he wasn't going to let that happen. It was true; even after the successful transfer, Minato remained just as he had been. A cheerful child that only carried a burden.

"I would question the boy's loyalty to Konoha, Hokage-sama," Danzo spoke up. Menma rolled his eyes, Obito and Sarutobi glared at the war hawk and Minato's mind began running gears in his head. "For one, why would you chose such a random child, regardless of their connection to you, to seal the Kyuubi? Why not reseal it inside of yourself? Secondly, how can we be sure this boy isn't a spy sent to assassinate you? You've given him an edge of power that could one day be used against us rather than save the village. I would like to assess the boy, his loyalty and his abilities, if he were under my ROOT program."

Minato turned to the speaker of such suggestion. Naruto—Menma—did warn him about Danzo and his ROOT. His world's Sarutobi had disbanded it but here, they hadn't yet. He would make note of that later to Menma as, despite the boy's claim that it was bad, he had made the ROOT adjust more fairly in this time. But now, his rage, well concealed with his expression, but yet couldn't be held back with the waves of killing intent aimed at Danzo. The aforementioned stiffened at the extremity of the intent coming at him like a falcon snatching its prey quicker than the eye could blink. Did he really think he would hand over one of his sons on a silver platter to him? "Danzo," Minato began icily, never looking at the older man's direction, "You will never speak of that again. As I said before, Namikaze Menma is under _my_ protection. My _nephew_ is not going_ anywhere_. Understood?"

"...Yes, Hokage-sama..."

"As for your other questions, I truly believe Menma is loyal to Konoha. His main objective was to travel to Konoha to find family. He has found it, and that is with me and my son, Namikaze Naruto, who was born on that fateful night. He has willingly given himself up to become the next Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails to ensure that my son and I can be together, so that I wouldn't have to needlessly sacrifice myself. He did it to protect what he believed would become his new home. Why would any spy or assassin do this for anyone? Perhaps, to get closer to the intended target. However, make no mistake, I sincerely believe in this boy. He also saved my life when the extraction could have also killed me. In the bottom of my heart, he was a blessing from kami, and he is a hero." Minato's eyes traveled to the child in question who rubbed his head bashfully in embarrassment. '_A hero and a blessing in more ways than one._'

"Damn, if he's capable of that, then why deny him a chance to stay in Konoha?" Inuzuka Tsume asked her fellow councilmen.

"He was looking for family and now he's found 'em. It's only right that he stays." Akimichi Chouza added.

"Hokage-sama does prove a point..." Another added, though slightly wary.

As the rest were in deep conversation about the new Jinchuriki and any reasons of why he either should be detained in one location or allowed to be in the village, Menma and Minato shared another knowing glance. Obito caught it and looked between them. '_Something seems fishy. Why is sensei and his nephew looking like that? Maybe it's a sure sign of their victory over the council then. Must be it._' The Uchiha teen thought. Then, he and Menma shared another glance with the boy smiling. Obito smiled back. '_Hm, maybe the squirt isn't so bad. He looks to be the same age as my ikoto, Itachi. Maybe a year older. I wouldn't be surprised if sensei was going to send him straight to the academy. Using an advanced healing jutsu and Chakra transferring is pretty big. He might be another Namikaze prodigy._'

"Now, I believe that this is agreeable that we can allow Namikaze Menma to be instated as a citizen of Konoha?"

A stringed chorus of "Hai, Hokage-sama" echoed throughout the room, though several of the civilian council members spitefully disagreed. Already, they were thinking of Menma as the demon and wanted him dead. They lost so many to the monster and now that it was sealed within a small, defenseless child, they could take the opportunity to kill it. "And if **_anyone_** insomuch as tries to or lays a _hand_ on my nephew or tries _anything_ to cause him harm or discomfort while he is in the village, you will suffer the _dire _consequences." Minato informed them, releasing another large amount of killing intent, scaring the civilians senseless and troubling the shinobi in the room. He received weary nods from all and a smirk from Sarutobi. Looks like the old monkey is very proud of his successor. Couldn't have said it better himself.

After calming down a little and releasing his killer intent, Minato decisively changed the topic before anyone could get another word in. "Now, moving onto the next topic of this meeting. I'm aware many of you were informed or had seen for yourselves, when you fought the Kyuubi that you noticed my student, Uchiha Obito, was 'cloaked in red chakra'."

It was this time that Uchiha Fugaku spoke, "Hokage-sama, if I may?"

"Fugaku-san."

Here, the clan leader of the Uchiha glared harshly at Obito, who, despite was a chunin, tried his hardest to shrink away from the man's hardened gaze. "I would like to know how and why Obito was able to exude this...energy. If I dare compare it, it felt very similar to the Kyuubi's chakra. Is there any reason _why_ this is?"

Whispers were breaking out but Minato stopped them all with his stern voice. "Yes, there is a reason why that is, Fugaku-san." Getting an approving nod from the Sandaime—as he had made it the S-class secret—and Obito, who nodded sullenly, he continued. "In the last war, my team had been sent out with the front lines to ward off the Kiri-nin who allied themselves with Iwagakure. I had Kakashi lead the team to assist the force leading against Iwa while I assisted the divided Konoha forces on the front against Kirigakure shinobi. It wasn't long into a couple days that I received word from one of Kakashi's ninken summons that Obito had saved Rin from being captured by Iwa-nin but was taken in her place. Having finished up with the Kiri-nin, I immediately rushed to aid my team when Obito was returned to us, asking Kakashi to kill him.

"We later found out that Iwa and Kiri had force-sealed the bijuu, Gobi, into Obito and planned to send him into Konoha and release the seal from their distance and watch Konoha fall to the rage of a tailed beast. I immediately applied the Gogyo Fuin (Five Elements Seal) where his seal was located and suppress the Gobi's chakra, thus rendering the seal release unusable. Once the Iwa and Kiri were defeated, I redesigned Obito's seal to allow both of their chakra to eventually coalesce. The original was straining both the host and the bijuu." Minato finished, watching the expressions of the council, especially Fugaku's. "The reason none of you have been told was due to Obito's fear of the mistreatment he may have received if it was known. The Sandaime, while he was in office, had made it an S-class secret. Aside from Obito himself, the only others are Rin, Kakashi, the Sandaime, Jiraya-sensei and myself knew of the Gobi's presence within my student."

More silence.

"...And we're just hearing about this, _why_?" Fugaku voiced most of their questions with venom in his tone. He mostly glared at the former Hokage, who did nothing to acknowledge the angered Uchiha clan head. "Why the hell are we just finding out about this now!? You realize how dangerous the bijuu truly are?! The damn brat had been around _my_ family! And that seal of his, how stable is it truly? What would have happened if it broke free and killed everyone!?"

"It's not."

All heads turned to the speaker. Surprisingly, it was Obito himself. He glared at each of the members assembled, finally having enough. He was trying hard to sit still and wait for his turn but enough was enough. "Uncl—Uchiha-sama, while it's true that I could be a danger to everyone because of what's inside of me, that doesn't mean I'd allow it on purpose! The seal is stable, on the contrary, and it's holding the Gobi back! And if you were listening, Hokage-sama _just_ said he readjusted my seal and that it was my fear of being mistreated that I _didn't_ want any of you knowing of my status as...as..."

"A Jinchuriki." Homura supplied, which made the younger Uchiha whirl around and stare at him.

"...Yes, that." Obito spitefully replied. He hated that word, hated it so much. He didn't like associating himself with it but that's how the world labeled people like him, "Which is not true. I am not a human sacrifice. I'm human as much as everyone else here. I'm sure I can handle the Gobi. I can bond with it and become strong to keep protecting the village. That's why I'm a shinobi."

"You can't control that beast, boy. You need more training, both you and the young Jinchuriki next to you. If Hokage-sama would allow a special training regimen for you two..." Kurama Murakumo began suggesting. Two pairs of icy glares pierced him; one from Minato and the other from Obito. Menma just stared at him. Who did this guy think he was?

"I don't _need_ special training," Obito countered, feeling his emotions rising. Kami, this whole situation has gone from bad to worse. Nothing good comes out of these damn meetings. "Menma-kun also doesn't, either. We're not simply tools for you to manipulate and use to your liking. We're still _living_, human beings!"

**'That's right, Lil Colt! Ne, you two are just different, but still the same person. Nothing has changed except for me and Kurama-nii being inside you.'** Kokuo decided to cheer on his host. This Uchiha had a big heart and hadn't fallen to the curse of their clan like several others down the line. Obito happily agreed with his bijuu silently. During his well-placed rant, his killer intent filled the room. In fact, some of the Gobi's killer intent flushed out from his host, making many pale and stare fearfully in Obito's direction. Menma slightly flinched to it and Minato hardly felt it, given he had experienced the Kyuubi's own several times before.

Knowing that having an angered carrier was a bad idea, Minato decided to intervene and get his student to cool off. "Obito, calm down," He said somewhat gently, watching the teenager take deep breaths to do just that. When the younger Uchiha was semi-composed and not leaking out killing intent that could be the size of a village, Minato turned back to his councilmen that were 'recovering' from the leak itself. "Do not worry yourselves over Obito's and Menma's case. Even though I am no longer a carrier, I am more profound with utilizing a bijuu's power when they are cooperative with their host. I will assist them in bonding with their respective tailed beast. I believe that is the best course for this 'special' training you have suggested, Kurama-san."

**'Hmph, someone stole _my_ name.'** Kurama snorted. Menma tried his hardest to _not_ laugh at the irony.

A few clan heads, Shikaku, Chouza, Tsume and Hiashi to name, seemed to agree to this idea. The man in question thought over the idea and grudgingly accepted it as it was.

"You'll teach them how to control their monsters?" asked a curious civilian member who was glaring at both of the boys.

"Not control. Bond with them." Minato clarified.

The latter scoffed. "Why would we want them to bond with those creatures? They'll just end up destroying Konoha again!"

"Yeah! They could let loose those demons and watch as Konoha falls again! We really ought to just kill those boys...those _things_ and be done with it!" Another shouted, gaining support from the civilian council and a few from the shinobi council.

Utatane Koharu glared at the man who shouted such nonsense. "You fools don't understand the power that Jinchuriki have. Outright killing them would derive us of a powerful shinobi and one potential, should he attend the academy and receive the proper training." It was thanks to her timed response that she saved that civilian from Minato's wrath, which had been quietly building up from his core. He calmed himself down and gave everyone his attention again.

"We will _not_ be killing them. Anyone who tries will be the one who gets killed for harming a fellow Leaf-nin and citizen. Obito is a ninja under my command, and Menma will be attending the academy to improve his capabilities," the Yondaime said sternly. "He will turn out to be a fine ninja."

"Hokage-sama, with all due respect, this doesn't change the fact that my nephew—if he can still be called that—still kept a secret from the rest of his clansmen _and_ the council. That is unacceptable." Fugaku hastily reminded the Yondaime, but more so to his nephew, trying his best to keep the anger out of his voice but to no avail. "Had he told us earlier, we would have—"

"So what if I did or didn't. I had a valid reason, _Fugaku_." Obito cut the man off, grounding out the name on his teeth, his eyes blazing with the Sharingan activated. He knew he disrespected the clan head but he didn't care.

It was obvious that the teen was pissed off. "And if you haven't realized it by now, I am a shinobi under the Hokage's command, not yours or this council, and don't have to answer to _you _anymore. Had I told you before, you'd have thrown me out or tried to warp me into some mindless weapon. I'm not a as stupid as you think I am, _Uncle_." Obito turned to his sensei, who had an impassive expression on his face but clearly watched everything unfold, met his gaze. "My apologies for my abruptness, Hokage-sama, but I'm leaving."

Recovering from the blunt rudeness displayed by the younger Uchiha, Fugaku glared at the standing teen. "You can't do that! The Hokage hasn't dismissed us, young man! Return to your seat, now!"

Obito shot him a menacing glance. "Again, I don't have to listen to you." Yup, definitely angry and so, like every pissed off teenager, whether they are shinobi or not, he decided to leave the room. Obito did so via shunshin, surprising everyone with his audacity, upsetting the people, except his sensei and nephew. Menma had to hold back a smirk and chuckle when his now-discovered fellow Jinchuriki literally disobeyed and left. There were cries of insolence and punishment floating around that Minato had to end it. He found the whole interaction between his student and his uncle quite amusing, except he hid said amusement under a frowning mask.

"...Now that you all know why we had this meeting, we can see to Konoha's reconstruction and healing. I suppose it is safe to say that we can close the discussion here."

"But Hokage-sama!"

"We'll have two demons running around in our village!"

"Those two monsters will just end up killing people again!"

"We can't trust them!"

"They need to be watched and detained at all times. I won't let my kids be around those filthy—"

"You will _not_ repeat anything that has been said in this room. Everything you've heard, especially Menma's relation to me, unless the boy in question wants to speak of it, his and Obito's statuses and Jinchuriki, is an S-class secret. I will make this a law. If anyone so much as makes a hint or speaks a word of this gathering, you will be taken to T&amp;I and dealt with." Minato began, cutting off the angered shouts from the civilians, "I will also assign directions to my ANBU to execute any treacherous leakers as well. The only exceptions to this are myself, Uchiha Obito and Namikaze Menma. If they choose to tell of their 'conditions' to anyone else, they may do so but only at their discretion. Now then. This meeting," his voice laced with venom and his eyes narrowed angrily and his heavy, killing intent flooding the room once more, "is _adjourned_. End of discussion."

* * *

Hokage Tower

2:16 pm

* * *

"All right, Naruto. I've completed the necessary paperwork for your official file." Minato said as he place his writing utensil down. The privacy seals had been activated long while ago and the pair of blonds, father and future son, were sitting in the Hokage office together. Naruto grinned wide.

"That's great, Dad! Now I can get my jonin rank back!"

"Uh, uh, uh, slow down there, junior." Naruto stopped cheering and looked at his grinning father. "As much as I hate to say this, despite what happened earlier in with the meeting, the councilmen will get suspicious if I suddenly up you to jonin rank without enrolling you into the academy. I did tell you this before we went."

Naruto groaned in protest. "Yeah but I have my old vest as proof of my hard-earned rank! And my hitai-ate! Come on, Dad! You can make an exception for me! Puh-leeaase!?"

Minato laughed heartily. "This is coming from the boy who became Hokage?"

"Hey! I reverted back to this dumb age and it wasn't my fault! Most of my emotions have converted back to this dummied down size!" the smaller blond shot back, eye twitching and pouting.

"Yes, yes, I'm aware. But I'm serious, Naruto. It would look suspicious and I rather not deal with anymore questions and complaints. However, seeing as they did seem impressed with your knowledge level when explaining the story, they'll probably allow you to attend the academy this term, since it started already a month ago. They believe you to be a prodigy like Uchiha Itachi if you can catch up as the next term doesn't start until next year's March."

Naruto rubbed his nose. "Yeah? It's mostly thanks to my advance, future knowledge then. I wasn't lying about the healing and the Chakra Transfer technique by the way. I can heal but only when using Yang release in that form I told you about, the Rikudo Senjustu."

Minato nodded. "I'm aware. You healed me up during the attack, I remember. However, because of the strain of it, I don't want you using that form until you're older. You yourself said that, don't forget." Naruto nodded his head. "Unless in dire, emergencies, you may use it. Kurama is going to assist you when you use it, correct?"

"Yeah. The furball will. But dang it, that means I'll have to be a damn—"

"Language, Naruto," the older blond admonished.

"—uh, I have to be in a genin again! This is SO unfair! I bet the tests are different this time, too!"

"No, it's the same curriculum from your time. The Henge, Kawarimi and Bunshin. However, each jonin sensei has different objectives for their teams to reach in order to be qualified as a team."

Naruto face-palmed and groaned irritably. Those techniques were so easy, he could do them in his sleep! "I get it. But are you _sure_ you can't just make me a chunin instead?"

"No, son. I prefer if you actually go to the academy. You never know, you may see someone you know or have known from your world." Naruto didn't miss the underlying message of that, which was translated as: 'You need to move on with your life, boy.'

"B-but there'll probably be so many stuck-up, 'holier than thou' Uchiha and Hyuuga there!" He whined. His getting-into-the-act was really spicing up his actual age's tendencies.

"Wasn't your best friend and previous wife also from those clans?" Minato asked, pointing out the obvious. Naruto couldn't complain or argue against that so he shut up. "Listen, Naruto. I know you don't want to go back to the Academy, but look at it this way. You'll be able to meet new friends and if you do well, which I know you will, you can graduate early. Then you can move up the ranks easier and become the jonin sensei for the future Team Seven. Isn't that what you wanted to do?"

"Yeah, I still do. But...that place is like a prison for kids." Naruto sighed and sat back in his chair, crossing his arms. "I know you told the council I'd go to the academy, but couldn't I just leave a Kage Bunshin there and train myself elsewhere? I need to get back into shape, Dad, in order to have that control of both my abysmal chakra control and my other forms, I need to train. I need to be absolutely ready when I take on the genin team. Naruto-kun, Sakura-chan and Sasuke-kun," he snickered silently to himself. He'd never refer to the teme as "-kun" even if someone bribed him with ramen, but in this time, he was older than the baby in question. He might just get used to the suffix. "need to be strong just like they were in my...world. If it helps, I can also help the instructors teach the students at the academy after my promotion so the rest of my friends can become better! Everyone in Rookie 9 were like a family to me. I don't want to lose any of them." '_Especially Hinata-chan,_' he added to himself.

Minato acknowledged his son's determination. If he had been in his shoes, he would want the same thing. "I understand, Naruto. Right now, I'm not sure how we will be able to fit you into the academic plan, as you still have a long way to go. Unless you're planning to play the prodigy card and graduate early as stated before?"

"Mm, yeah. I'll go with that. Man, it's going to be super boring." Naruto groaned again, resigning to his fate. Kami, he needed to stop thinking like the old Neji.

"Good. I'll make the necessary arrangements and get you enrolled."

"Hm, if I'm right, then Sasuke's brother, Itachi, is attending the academy, too. He's really young, I think like four."

"Uchiha Itachi, right? Yes, he's already enrolled in the academy and excelling well," Minato said, knowing that the gears in his future son's mind were turning.

"Huh, well, I guess it won't be TOO bad," the younger blond said, remembering what he thought about during the meeting concerning the aforementioned Uchiha. "I could befriend Itachi so Shisui won't be the only friend he has. That way if for some reason the massacre happens, I can lead him away from it."

"I don't find anything wrong with that, Naruto. In fact, he may need more friends. That boy, whenever I look at him, I feel as if Danzo had taken him to ROOT and then back. It's a tad unnerving."

"Yeah... Speaking of, aren't you going to disband ROOT? Sarutobi-jiji in my time did, but Danzo still kept them hidden somewhere and operating."

Minato shook his head at the question. "As much as Danzo's methods of keeping Konoha battle ready and having views of militarism are 'off key' as I put it, he still has Konoha's best interests at heart, son. I've discovered his ROOT operations before and I've already managed to get the man to stop using those silencing seals on his ninja. I don't like his methods of training them, and I've had a compromise with him that will allow his ROOT to continue as long as those people are treated fairly and like human beings still, rather than emotionless, killing machines as he originally wanted and have them remain as registered shinobi for my and his eyes only, than hidden. I've regarded ROOT to be similar to a harsher 'boot camp' version of ANBU."

Naruto grimaced but his father made a point. Members of ROOT were strong and thoroughly trained, if his interaction with his world's Sai was any indication to go by. He had purposely disbanded the rest of ROOT after the war, removed the seals off the members and had them reinstated as true shinobi in Konoha. Most of them were willing to be 'used' by their Hokage, much to Naruto's chagrin. Still, he couldn't argue over his father's decision. '_Why didn't the Sandaime think of this before? Maybe the stress of my dad's passing and his decision to return to the Hokage office had effect on him..._'

"I see. Well, then Dad. When do I start the dreaded academy of all children's death?"

Minato gave him one of Kakashi's eye-smiles. "You'll start next week, Menma. This will give us time to buy enough clothes and supplies for you and Naruto-kun as well as officially settling in."

Naruto beamed a grin at his father. Despite how confusing it still was, he was happy. He had a family now, something he's always wanted before he married and after. During his old life, both of those opportunities were taken from him. This time, he would protect them. They were a gift from kami and he'd be damned if anything happened to them. Unless it was a natural death, he'd prevent as much as he could. He still wished his mother were still alive to complete their odd family of four, but he'd get used to this. He would have to since he was here to stay and now that he had a little brother figure to spoil silly...

Naruto wondered if it was a good idea to inform his father he was the Prankster King in his time.

...Nah. Better to keep that information to himself and pass on his 'legacy' of pranking to his younger self.

"Great! While Naru-chan's growing up, I'll teach him everything he'll need to know, too!" Naruto flashed his father his evil smirk. Minato saw it, frowned and began to shudder. What was behind that smirk that made him feel so...irked? He had a feeling his future son was up to something. Probably nothing good, given that look.

"...Naruto, whatever you're planning, stop it."

"Hey, hey! I'm not up to no good! Trust me! Naru-chan and I will liven up this village in no time!"

Minato had no doubt about that. But why did he feel an ominous and dreadful feeling creeping up on his back. Hm...oh well. It wouldn't be that bad, would it? He was sure he could handle it.

* * *

Six Years later

* * *

Minato stood in his office, facing the window. It had been a good afternoon so far; he had his tea, a good lunch with his sons earlier, and ever since his future one told him the secret of the Kage Bunshin to help him with paperwork, he'd never felt better. It was a huge stress reliever in more ways than one. But now, another headache came to him and it was in the form of the Hokage Monument.

It had been painted several, muli-colors with the Shodaime having orange, scribbled swirls on his face and green hearts above his head with the forehead having a cross-hatch pattern. The Nidaime, his ancestor, with blue tear drops and dog ears painted around his head and his happuri having pink strokes upon it. The Sandaime had a nosebleed coming out of his head's nose and brown paint splattered on messily but in the attempted shape of a flower. Lastly, his own head on the Monument had painted whisker marks on the cheeks, pink eyes and red polka dots in the hair.

Using his enhanced vision, Minato spotted the culprits responsible for the deed. Both pairs of blond, whisker-marked boy were leaping across building tops, being chased by several ninja of the chunin, jonin and ANBU rank. Each had two paint cans and brushes, all the while laughing at the 'game' of 'tag'. Not to mention, both were wearing _orange_ of all colors! And he was still wondering how Menma was able to get Naruto to leap over rooftops so easily. His little boy was a six-year-old for goodness sake! Also, wasn't the older boy a chunin now? He shook his head in exasperation. No matter what, Menma was still a child and he supposed he wanted to enjoy something of his childhood. But why, why did it have to be pranking...

"They certainly are livening up things, aren't they?" Sarutobi said with a low chuckle, amused when he spotted the colorful Monument.

"Indeed..." Minato said with a low sigh. How could he have missed the signs his future son gave him six years ago? Of all the things to inherit from his mother, he also got the idea to become a prankster. And he had let the boy rope his younger son into his antics. Now he had to deal with _two_ pranksters. Shouts of "NAMIKAZE MENMA" and "NAMIKAZE NARUTO" echoed throughout the village from the angered ninja chasing the two in question. Minato groaned and felt his headache coming on.

"Hokage-sama!" his secretary burst into the room with a panicking expression. Walking in behind her was his former students, all having different looks to them. Rin was frowning, Kakashi looked bored and currently reading his next edition of Icha Icha Violence, and Obito was grinning wide. He had been a pranking king during his younger days and was silently praising the two twerps for their ingeniousness. This was one of the biggest ones in Konoha's history yet and it was done by two kids wearing a 'kill me now' orange jumpsuit! How they avoided being caught doing that _and _avoiding several shinobi now was beyond him.

"Hah, those two are great, Minato-sensei! I should show them some of my old pranks to get them going!" Obito laughed. He stopped when said sensei turned to glare at him. "Er, or not..."

Minato resigned himself to face palm. '_What have I done..._'

* * *

**AN:** Yaaay...no more council. Hopefully I made the council thing believable? And my apologies; I didn't get a chance to get around to the fluff of both Naruto's or the greeting with Itachi. It'll definitely be there next chapter when Menma!Naruto will start attending. Also, the time skip at the end was for kicks. The next chapter will basically be the in-between this chapter and its time-skip.

Since Menma!Naruto's going back to the dreaded academy, he'll be in Itachi's classroom. Haha. Prepare for a lot of time skips next chapter because I don't want to type boring stuff!

Regarding Uchiha Naori, I may let her have a thing for future!Naruto. Maybe. After all, a way to heal from the past tragedies is to move on (and perhaps love another). If I do decide this, it will progress slowly.

The numbered stuff:

[1] Tekkai no Shiru no Jutsu - _Seal of Withdraw Technique_. My lamely made up Jutsu (as far as I know) to fit the need of the story. Yahoo. It's developed extraction technique created to...extract bijuu from their hosts. The hosts die immediately after the forced extraction with this skill, of course. No chance of survival (unless you're Naruto lol).

[2] Isen Tasekai konbaku no Jutsu – _Summoning: Parallel Other World Soul Technique_. One-way Jutsu. Summons dead human souls that only make it to the afterlife (those within the Shinigami's stomach after performing the Dead Demon Consuming don't count) to the living, alternate world. The only way the soul can be brought is if it has an attachable counterpart not yet born. If the counterpart is already born, the transported soul will compensate by reforming into its original body attaching itself to the current time line it is summon into. Must use with caution. Again, made up jutsu, haha. Hopefully it doesn't sound too lame?

[3] Kurama Murakumo – this guy is from the anime-only Kurama clan. The Kurama clansmen have a beastly kekkai genkai, which has nothing to do with the bijuu whose name they so kindly "ripped off" from. So no, the Kyuubi doesn't have his own...clan. Haha. Don't get it confused, if any of you were. I admit, I got confused myself.


	5. Habanera

**AN:** Wow, thanks for the reviews, follows and add-faves. I really appreciate them. You all are going to give me a serious heart attack if you keep this up, haha! All jokes aside, I hope I'm not boring anybody to death. This chapter will have time skips to get the story going faster. As for Gobi sensing something in Menma, yes he did. I did drop hints of that. (:

Also, Menma will eventually tell Obito because there's no escape from the observant, goofy chunin. Anyhoo, don't wanna keep you all any longer. Enjoy chapter 5~

* * *

Habanera

5

* * *

Tuesday November 6 400 NE

Namikaze Estate

Having used the past five days to get reacquainted with Konoha again—as it was surprisingly similar, yet a few shops here and there that hadn't been there in his Konoha—Menma began his new life with his father and his now named ikoto, Naruto. At first, it was strange for the two older blonds. There were times when Minato referred to the child as 'Naruto' and when the aforementioned responded automatically with 'Dad'. With much practice within two days passing, they were able to pull off the 'Uncle and nephew' cover well, especially around each other in private. However, during necessary moments would the two revert back and claim each other properly as 'Father and son.'

Because the reconstruction of the village needed their Kage's presence, Minato often left early to his office and around the village, returning during the afternoon if he could to have lunch and spend time with his sons and then head back out. Menma found much enjoyment in handling his baby self, except for the diapers and when he cried for attention. Thankfully, his father had his former three students and several ANBU rotate shifts between watching the two during his absence. It surprised Rin that Naruto didn't do much when in the presence of Menma. He seemed relaxed in the smaller boy's care.

However, when the boy wasn't within his sight, the child would cry until the former came back. It was a mystery to her and her teammates but she summed it up to the two having some form of recognition between another. As if Naruto subconsciously knew Menma was family, like his father. Unbeknown to her, she didn't know how right she was.

* * *

5:30 am

* * *

Today was the day he would start the dreaded Academy—again. He complained all last night to himself, earning himself an audience with the fox that kindly reminded him of this in high amusement. Menma's internal clock woke him up at 5:30 am sharp. After stretching, he got out of his bed, a full sized one, and exited quietly from the room. Until they cleared out the other, unoccupied room across the hall, Menma and Naruto shared the same room; one half designed to look appealing to the five-year-old, the other was draped—and that was putting it lightly—in light blues and oranges for the infant. The bassinet cradled the baby protectively and said baby was sleeping away happily with not a care in the world. Their father apologized for it, but Menma said he didn't mind sharing the room. It put both of them at ease knowing one other than the ANBU patrols were carefully watching the babe.

That and Menma wanted to study the strange 'relationship' he had with his younger self.

During the couple of days living in the Namikaze home, Menma found that when he felt a certain emotion in abundance, like joy, Naruto would mimicry the same feelings. Likewise, when Naruto cried because he was hungry, Menma felt the overwhelming urge to suppress the emotion. Had he not, he'd be in tears for no reason. Not only were their emotions 'transferable' between each other, one could sense where the other was. Of course, Menma was technically a shinobi with several years of experience behind him, whereas Naruto had none of that and the baby could turn his head in the direction Menma was approaching before the latter announced he was there. There was no way for the five-year-old to sneak up on the infant because he _knew_ where he was at, albeit subconsciously as Kurama advised after seeing the interactions himself.

The distance between them mattered only a little between these exchanges of emotions and sensing ability. The fox theorized that if Naruto were on the other side of the village, Menma would only feel a fraction of the babe's presence. The two, both host and bijuu, decided the cause of such oddity was because the two were technically the same being with the same fox sealed in their gut and left it at that.

Now...

Menma headed for the restroom adjacent to the shared room and proceeded to shower. The Academy started at 7:30 am so he had time to prepare himself. For one, he was entering at an earlier age, similarly to how Itachi did back in his time. Also, he had to mentally prepare himself when he saw said Uchiha, albeit a smaller, not-massacring-my-clan Itachi. It was going to be weird and challenging to get the boy to become his friend but it would be worthwhile. Other than that, he'd have to deal with other clan children. He assumed a Hyuuga would be there with a pole up their ass and preaching to be 'holier than thou' and all that other mess.

He loved Hinata and the Hyuuga he left behind, but it would be difficult seeing them 'reverted' back to their old ways.

After he finished showering and dressing into a simple, white t-shirt, an orange-colored hoodie over that, underwear, and brown cargo shorts, Menma headed back to the bedroom to make up his bed and fold his night clothes he discarded on the floor. Finished with that small chore, he peered into the bassinet to see Naruto still asleep. A small smile crossed his face; if he kept up his positive thoughts, Naruto wouldn't feel the need to cry all day long because of his absence.

As he made his way downstairs, he spotted the kitchen light on and his father sitting in a chair at the table, sipping coffee and reading and jotting down notes on a notepad beside him. Whatever it was, he looked dedicated, so Menma wouldn't bother him much. The older blond looked up from his notepad when he felt one of his son's familiar signature and spotted the smaller boy.

"Good morning Menma," Minato greeted the boy with a smile on his face.

"Good morning ojisan," Menma replied with a light yawn, taking a seat in the chair on the left.

"To be fair, I wasn't expecting you up so early."

The boy shrugged. "I understand. But years of being a shinobi does that to you. Can't just sleep in like I used to when I was twelve."

Minato observed his future son/nephew with a raised eyebrow. He kept forgetting this boy was actually a grown man on his way to reaching his early twenties and not just a kid. If he had been someone else, hearing Menma speak of being 'twelve' when he looked five or six would have caused him to roll over and laugh. Such was not the case, since he knew what the smaller blond meant and simply nodded.

"Mm, I'll start making breakfast. Could you listen out for Naruto-kun for me?"

"Sure."

Minato put his coffee cup down, sat up from his chair and went into the kitchen to start making pancakes. As he began mixing the flour necessary, Minato gave the clock a glance over and noted it was 6:09 am. His students would be here at 6:25 to watch the baby for the day once again.

'_Better make more just in case they didn't eat._'

* * *

6:55 am

* * *

"Ojisan, I have everything I need packed up," Menma announced as he came downstairs again. He had finished brushing his teeth after eating breakfast with his father's team again. Naruto-kun had woke up when they were eating, which was around ten minutes ago. That prompted Rin and Minato to abandon the table and hurry to the baby's side.

The others saw him, his father holding Naruto, and gave their variations of a smile. He noticed Kakashi was itching for his pocket to pull out his book but a glare from Rin stopped him. Menma laughed to himself but kept the smile on his face. "I'm ready to go!"

"Are you sure? Do you have your books? All your supplies? Bento box? Your—"

"Sensei, please don't start mother henning over your nephew. I'm sure he has everything ready. Don't worry about him." Rin saved Menma the disaster that was Minato's overbearing rambling.

"Ah...right."

Kakashi shook his head and Obito snorted.

"Anyway, I'll take you to the Academy, Menma. It'll be a few days for you to get used to walking there." Minato said, though Menma translated that as: 'I know you know the way there, but I'll come with anyway.'

"All right, ojisan! I can't wait!" Translation: 'This is going to suck so much.'

The Yondaime laughed a little, mostly at his future son's hidden message. "Great to hear that, Menma." He said, giving the younger blond the look of 'you'll be able to handle it.' Carefully, he handed Naruto to Rin, who was beyond excited to care for her little 'otouto' that she dubbed him. "Let me just grab my coat and we'll be on our way—"

"Hey sensei? Can I escort him there instead?" Obito asked, and the others stopped what they were doing, minus Naruto, to give the Uchiha a look. After a moment of silence, he broke it with a confused expression. "What? Was it something I said?"

"No, Obito, that's not it. We're just surprised a little, that's all." Kakashi admitted, glancing at his teammate to the kid and back again. He had a feeling of what Obito wanted to do. His teammate had told him a day ago that he felt something from Menma, mostly the Kyuubi and that it was acting strange to him. Kakashi couldn't really console him much on the topic but told him to simply investigate the matter privately and see what was up. So, it didn't really surprise him as much as everybody else when he suddenly wanted to escort their sensei's nephew to school on his first day.

Minato blinked and thought something different. Perhaps because both of them carried a bijuu, Obito would want to learn and bond with his older son. It would draw them closer, knowing they were in the same boat together, and could rely on each other's strength when it came to training with said bijuu.

Menma, however, was thinking something entirely different. In fact, he was internally panicking. Kurama had warned him that the Uchiha kid was eying him warily and that he felt Kokuo attempt to speak to him when he was partially off guard. '_Crap. How much do they know?_' He thought while keeping up his facial mask.

"**No idea, kit. But Kokuo's not going to let this slide. He seems to know that something's up because I'm not thrashing around angrily or giving off waves of hatred like he used to know me by. At least, that's what I've read from the memories gained from the other me when we merged."** Kurama replied, feeling his host's nervousness. Hell, _he_ was getting anxious.

Breaking from their small conversation, Menma smiled wide at the invitation, putting up his childish act. "Okay! Obito-san, you'll take me to the Academy? Can he, ojisan?"

"Of course. Are you sure, Obito?"

"Yeah, sure I'm sure. Let's go, kiddo. You don't want to be late!"

"Unlike you." Kakashi threw in.

The Uchiha scowled and narrowed his dark eyes at his friend. "Quiet you!"

"_Anyways_!" Minato cut in before the two could start a bantering war, "You two should get going so that Menma _isn't _late. Thank you for volunteering, Obito. And Menma, behave yourself, listen to your instructors and do your best. I want to know everything about your first day when you come back." Translation: 'Don't freak out over seeing old friends, actually pay attention this time in your studies and come home to tell me what you think.'

"Yeah, yeah, I will!" Menma called over his shoulder as he put on his sandals. He left out of the door, followed by the teenaged Uchiha.

"See you later, sensei! Rin-chan! Kakashi-teme!"

"Bye!"

"See you later, Obito-kun!"

"Dobe."

"Grr, stupid teme!" Obito grumbled under his breath and Menma had to hold himself back from balling out laughing at the familiar scene. He could clearly see himself and Sasuke doing the exact same thing. Turning to the mumbling Uchiha, who stopped and put a wide grin on his face and said, "All right Menma, the Academy's this way towards the Hokage Monument, so follow me!"

* * *

7:17 am

* * *

Surprisingly enough, Menma wasn't late to his first day at the Academy and seeing the large building again made him gape in familiarity. It was just as he remembered it, still standing strong on the Will of Fire. He half expected to see Iruka-sensei inside teaching a class but remembered that said man was probably like ten or eleven years old at the time. In fact, he was probably learning to become a ninja and would end up in his class. Hah, yeah right. Wishful thinking never got him too far in life. During the walk to the school, Obito had chatted him up, mostly recalling good memories of when he was attending the classes at the Academy as a kid, when he graduated and when he was placed on Minato's team with the 'teme' (Kakashi) and his adoring 'Rin-chan'. Menma didn't interrupt and actually listened to the excited Uchiha talk. Kakashi-sensei, from his time, was right about his teammate; he was _nothing_ like the rest of the stuck-up Uchiha clan. He was actually their opposite and didn't fall into the curse of hatred.

Before he entered the building, Obito called to him.

"Hey, Menma."

"Yes?"

"When you're out of school, I'll be here to come pick you up. There's a ramen stand that sensei loves so much called Ramen Ichiraku. We can go there before I take you home. How's that sound? I'll even pay for it."

Forget the idea that the Uchiha kid thought him suspicious. The inner child of his couldn't contain itself. Ramen? Being taken out to RAMEN?! And he didn't have to pay for it, either? Menma, internally, was laughing like a maniac at the amount of bowls he would be inhaling. Not a lot of crap happens that scares Kurama, but seeing his host going crazy for ramen was one of those things that _did _scare him. He shuddered at the number of bowls his Naruto would consume. **'That Uchiha kid won't know what hit him until it's too late. I almost pity him...'** He thought.

On the outside of the mindscape, Menma smiled wide. "Okay, Obito-san! Thank you! I'll see you after school, then!"

"Great. Have fun, Menma-kun!"

After that, Obito used the shunshin jutsu to leave. Menma cackled darkly to himself as he entered the school building, wondering how many bowls of miso ramen he could get with Obito's ryo. Once again, he was scaring his bijuu with those thoughts of his. **"Naruto, stop plotting evilly in the corner of your mind about how much ramen you'll eat. It's actually starting to creep ****_me _****out, as much as I hate to admit it."**

'_No. This is going to be great. I get free ramen! And the best part is, I'm going to eat A LOT of it!_'

"**Yes, and I know exactly what you're thinking: 'I'm going to consume twenty bowls of ramen.' Don't torment that kid and burn his wallet dry."**

'_You're no fun, Kurama._'

"**I'm not against you tormenting him if you so wish,"** the fox replied back, **"But think. It would give him a reason to become more suspicious of us. From what I gathered from the other memories, your mother still ate her own weight and your father had a fair share of consuming at least ten bowls to himself in this time. Obito knows both of those facts. You don't want rope yourself into anymore suspicion, correct?"**

A frown sketched over his face. '_Oh... Well, maybe I can get five as a start and gradually build up. Dang it! My life is always so complicated. Now I can't have my precious ramen..._'

Kurama chuckled but partially sympathized with his weeping host. It was a good thing he pushed that thought to him, or else they'd have more to deal with than just whatever this world was ready to throw at them.

Menma grumbled all the way until he found his classroom. Funny how it was the same one as his old one, er the one he used to be in. Great, more confusion. Pushing that aside, he opened the door quietly, walked in, and noticed that it was practically empty, save one of the chunin instructors sitting at the desk grading papers and one other student with dark hair. '_Itachi..._' Menma recognized the child's chakra signature. It was still the same. The teacher looked up and saw the boy enter; he stood up from his desk and walked over to the boy.

"Hello, may I help you?" he asked. What was this little boy doing here?

"Um, yeah. Is this Room 102-A?" Menma answered with his own question. The budding conversation somewhat interested the younger Itachi's attention.

"Yes, it is."

"Okay. Are you Ishihara Nori? [1]"

The chunin blinked a bit before nodding. "Yes, that's me."

Menma smiled and bowed respectfully. "Hello, Ishihara-sensei. I'm Namikaze Menma. My ojisan enrolled me into your class last week."

The man paled a bit; the Hokage did enroll a new student into his class. In fact, the man himself approached him during the time off everyone took to rebuild the village after the Kyuubi's attack and asked if he'd be willing to take in an extra student even though the term had already begun. He also explained the student was his nephew. When the chunin looked down at the small blond and actually studied his appearance, he was quite shocked to see that the little boy looked startlingly similar to the Hokage. '_Must be in the genes for them all to look alike._' He mused to himself.

"Ah, that's right. Your uncle, Hokage-sama, did inform me of your attendance starting today. Namikaze Menma, was it? Well, you're a bit early. Class won't start until another ten minutes. Go ahead and have a seat."

"Okay, sensei. Thank you!" Menma beamed and hurried to take a seat towards the back of the class. While he was making his way there, his blue eyes caught onto the dark ones of the impassive Uchiha. Itachi barely registered the new student as important so he returned to facing the classroom's chalkboard stoically. Menma grumbled something unintelligibly before sitting down. '_Looks like getting to Itachi will be a chore. He probably already cleared me off as unimportant. I'll have to fix that._'

"**Good luck, kit. While you do that, I'm going to nap. Wake me up when something 'good' happens."**

'_Of course... Just leave me before the boring lectures, huh? Some friend you are._'

Kurama took that compliment-insult with stride. **"Even the closest friends let you sit through the important things you need to learn. Well then, good night now."** The fox's only response from the boy was more groans and grumbles of 'traitors' and 'double-crossing foxes'. He pretended to not hear those thoughts and went to sleep. Five minutes passed, Menma heard Kurama's soft snoring, some of his new classmates started filing in the room. A noticeable Hyuuga boy entered and towards the back on the other side of the room. Menma regarded him a little before looking at the other kids. A notable Aburame girl entered quietly, a brown-haired girl with three identical ninken beside her—an Inuzuka—and another Uchiha entering the room. Menma spotted that this Uchiha was a girl, with dark violet hair and the dark eyes of the clan.

She still held the 'Uchiha superiority' complex but not in the way Sasuke did back in their academy days. She sat towards the center of the class. '_Huh, never knew Uchiha produced females, what with all the ones I fought and have known were males. Hah, I joke... I'm bad at joking._' He decided to stop that thought before it got out of hand. More students piled in, hurrying to their seats just before the bell rang for class to begin. One last student, however, caught the blond's attention.

'_Hey, it's Iruka!_' he grinned to himself when he spotted the brown-haired, brushy pony-tailed nine/ten-year-old version of his academy teacher entering the room.

"Umino-san, you're one minute late!" Ishihara glared at the panting boy.

"S-sorry, Ishihara-sensei. It won't happen again!" the small Iruka said in between breaths.

"...Fine. Go take your seat now."

"Hai!"

Ishihara-sensei waited for the rest to sit down before he started, getting Menma to come down to the front of the class to introduce himself. All attention was on him, which, no matter what he did he couldn't get rid of his bashfulness when introducing himself to a crowd. "Now then, introduce yourself and tell the class what your likes, dislikes and hobbies are." Menma nodded slowly and faced his new classmates—all of whom were older than him and Itachi by a few years.

"My name is Namikaze Menma," this rolled in many gasps and stares as they recognized the surname. Menma smiled wide at their reactions and went on, "I'm five years old and I like to eat ramen a lot. I also like my new ojisan Namikaze Minato and my ikoto, Namikaze Naruto. I dislike people who don't like me for no reason or who try to hurt my family and friends. Uh... my hobbies are...um... pranking." His blue eyes surveyed the room, wondering what the rest of the students were thinking.

'_That kid is the Hokage's nephew!?_'

'_He kind of looks cute..._'

'_...Hn..._'

'_My bugs are detecting a high amount of chakra from him. How strange._'

'_Aw, he's adorable! Wonder what's up with my ninken. They seem a bit agitated._'

'_He's so tiny! How could the Hokage allow a little, itty bitty kid like him into the class? And I thought it was weird the Uchiha let Itachi in. But he's a prodigy so... well maybe this kid is, too?_'

"Thank you for your introduction, Namikaze-san. You may take your seat."

Menma returned to his seat, sitting down and listened to the instructor begin his lecture. He noticed that he was getting several, unwanted stares from his classmates and did his best to ignore them. He sighed to himself as he brought out his notebook to take notes. Even though this was going to be boring and the urge to do nothing was high, he shoved it back. He had to pay attention and swing through the class. His next goal now was to graduate early (alongside Itachi, mainly) and become a chunin fast, then take the jonin exam and be promoted before he turned seventeen. Again, may he add. By then, his friends from this time would be close to becoming genin and he would have time to train himself and prepare. He just hoped his dad would let him have Team Seven still. '_Well, he did tell me that if I pull my weight through the academy and all, then he would. Well then, time to exercise my brain._'

* * *

Time-skip

* * *

Many months later passed rather slowly for Menma, the family of three-technically six-had spent the holidays together. He complained a lot about the academy, the inner child in him kicking it off a notch didn't help either. His rants gave his father another reason to laugh but use the motive to give parental lectures. Sometimes Menma read this off as Minato's way of getting a "practice run" of the lectures so when Naruto grew up to become rebellious and ranted himself, he would be prepared. Still, using his knowledge, Menma had caught up with the rest of his class, and even went further to accelerate his learning progress. Relearning the leaf exercise helped and when it was down to a T, Menma began sending out a hundred clones in the morning to train secretly at unused training grounds before he went to school. He personally wanted to get through to Itachi rather than use a clone, as the stoic Uchiha would eventually learn his Sharingan and easily see that his clone was just that.

It was difficult at the beginning because Itachi only regarded him as a fellow classmate and not a person trying to be his friend. It was always "homework this" and "training that" to him because his tou-san wanted him to excel and had high expectations of him. Well, nothing new on that. Still, the Kyuubi Jinchuriki wasn't about to let the boy slip out of his radar. Thankfully, he had Obito on his side, who was related to the clan head's sons. He managed to convince Itachi to stay five minutes in Menma's company, one Saturday afternoon. Obito also told him the only way for his cousin to "recognize" him is if he demonstrated he meant business and showed "power" because the Uchiha clan respected power.

So the only way he could get the silent Uchiha boy to stay was to show him power. Oh, he had an abundance of that, but he'd limit it to a wind jutsu he knew he could do without backfire.

That day, Menma had smiled as Obito brought Itachi over and then had to excuse himself to report to the Hokage's office. It was perfect because they were alone. Using the older teen's advice, Menma flashed through hand signs as he meld chakra through them. Itachi watched with a faint—very faint—hint of fascination until the jutsu, Fuuton: Daitoppa, was released. Of course, it wasn't the full potential of the technique as Menma still needed to run his body ragged in chakra control exercises before he could manage even a fraction of his older self's skills. The jutsu was about one quarter of its original strength, but it was enough to blow back a couple of unsuspecting trees with its might.

That was how he got Itachi's attention.

And now that he had it, he wouldn't let it escape. He'd have to keep improving to keep the boy's attention to him, at least until he sees him as a friend other than Shisui, and open up to him. It was going to be worth the trouble and wait.

* * *

Saturday January 24 401 NE

* * *

It was another weekend in the new year, but for some reason, Menma felt as if something important was about to happen. He didn't know what it was because it was just a feeling. He lied in his bed, thinking too hard about what it could be and how he could approach it. He hoped to kami it wasn't an important date from his future that something bad was going to occur.

And that's when Kurama decided to intervene. **"Kit, your father's birthday is tomorrow."**

That snapped the boy up instantly. "WHAT!?" He shouted, forgetting to speak with his mind and forgetting his littler self was taking a nap.

"**Calm down or you'll wake your bratty baby self."**

'_He's not a brat. He's a cute, adorable little ball of sunshine!_' Menma countered. Kurama sighed and rolled his eyes. He didn't suddenly speak up just to have a pointless conversation or argument about his host's younger self that he knew he'd lose against.

"**Yes, yes, he's very...adorable. Now, listen. Your father's birthday is tomorrow, as I said. Having gathered from the old memories, your old man isn't a very materialistic person."**

'_Dang it. That rules out the idea of maybe buying him like some Fuuton scroll. But I bet he mastered every single one. I'd consider making him breakfast or dinner or something but I realized I can't cook very well._' Menma grumbled as he ran his hand through his spiky locks, thoroughly frustrated. '_Ugh, I wish I could cook as well as Hinata-hime._'

"**Hehehe..."**

'_What's so funny?_'

Kurama continued laughing to himself and eventually cooled down when he saw the blue-eyed glare he was receiving. **"No need to glare. I just had a thought."** Menma eased up on his glare and waited for his closest—literally—friend to inform him of this particular thought. **"Instead of buying him something, teach him something."**

The little blond raised an eyebrow. '_How can I teach Dad anything? Most of his jutsu I learned from _him _remember?_'

"**Yes, but remember. This is another version of your father. One that had me sealed inside him for twelve years. Think, boy. He has high amount of chakra reserves and maybe more because his and mine had coalesced at some point during our bound life. What does that tell you?"**

Menma's brain began spinning a little as it started to think straighter. '_Well, that means he could probably use the Kage Bunshin jutsu without straining himself. But what does that have to do with me _teaching_ him anything? I bet he already knows how to do that!_'

Kurama shook his head. **"He may, but that's not where I'm getting at. What particular jutsu of your father's allowed you to utilize the Kage Bunshin? Specifically, what ****_other _****version of it were you able to master with it?"**

'_I was able to use the Rasengan with the Kage Bunshin before I was able to do it on my own. And then I went up ahead and manipulated wind nature chakra to create the Rasensh—wait a second..._'

The fox grinned as he saw the boy's face light up in recognition.

'_Oh! Now I get it! I can teach my dad the Rasenshuriken! I never did tell him I used any of his jutsu in my story, nor sage mode, which I needed to use before we bonded correctly. Since Dad absorbed the other half of the Kyuubi, he shouldn't need to use the sage mode. Ha! That's brilliant, thanks Kurama! You're a lifesaver! In more ways than one, of course._'

"**Of course I am. Now that you know what the present will be, you'll need to draw your father away into a training ground to demonstrate and give him the instructions show how it's done."**

'_Right! I need to hurry and get my lesson plan together!_' With that, Menma hopped off the bed, grabbed a piece of paper, a writing utensil, and started mapping out ideas for the next day. He was going to make the Yondaime jump out of his shoes in excitement with this. He titled the paper, "Best gift for Dad Ever!" in large print and double underlined.

* * *

Sunday January 25 401 NE

Minato's Birthday

* * *

Minato sighed heavily as he woke up at his usual time of 5:00 am.

He had wanted to take the day off to spend with his boys but unfortunately, a large pile of paperwork that sat upon his desk in the office was calling his name. His secretary urged him that all the papers needed his signature, pressing him that they needed to be finished within the next couple of days. He sometimes wondered why he took on the position. Being Hokage was great; it was his dream and he wouldn't trade it for anything in the world—except if it were for his sons, then he would. Being the strongest shinobi in the village while protecting them was part of the job and he took it with pride.

But, the paperwork. The Sandaime did warn him that part of the job meant to take on an 'unbeatable enemy.' Minato didn't think said 'enemy' was a stack of papers that could reappear the second he took his eyes off it! Just thinking about it made his eye twitch. Still, at least he could try and get a birthday lunch with his sons. His older one had greeted him home with a cheerful grin on his round, small face. In fact, it looked a bit _too_ cheerful. As such, Rin and Obito also had those looks and Kakashi was eye-smiling at him before they left. What had those kids planned this time?

'_Best if I don't dwell on it._' He thought to himself as he prepared to get himself ready. He wouldn't have time to make breakfast for Menma again, just like the day before and a few days before that. Once done showering and dressing, he grabbed an apple from the refrigerator, left a note for his older son/nephew and headed out for his office, preparing to spend his entire birthday there.

* * *

5:30 am

* * *

Menma woke up, as usual because of his internal clock, and quietly left the room to see if his dad was still here. He checked the man's room, but it was vacant. The bed was made up neatly and the room looked pristine, as if nobody had been in there. No matter how many times he saw it, he couldn't get used to how _eerie_ that seemed. Shaking out of his menial thoughts, Menma tried his at-home office, but only saw neatly stacked sheets of paper on the desk and everything else arranged in order. He headed downstairs and saw that it, as well, was empty of the older blond's presence.

'_He must have left already._' Menma reasoned and started for the kitchen. Since it was the weekend, he didn't need to have an early breakfast but that wouldn't stop him. He needed to keep training until he could at least handle version one of the Bijuu mode. Thanks to all the training sessions his Kage Bunshin did the past few of months, he started to feel his chakra coming back and the control returning. It was enough that he could perform some old jutsu, albeit not in the level of the original power, but it was good for now. He could also manipulate it to where he could partially enter a stage of the Rikudo Senjutsu to use Yang Release for healing. Instead of the green aura that many are used to seeing, Menma's had a golden tint to it.

He thought perhaps, if on a team, he'd be the medic-nin. '_But learning all that stuff that Sakura-chan and Hinata-hime had to learn...ugh. Maybe I'll only use it when dire._' He thought the relearning everything at the academy was bad, learning about the body would be even worse. Menma wouldn't subject himself to such a torturous regimen. Regardless, he could only summon up enough chakra to heal and leave scars. He knew his Yang release could instantly heal if used in the full form, or, when he had built up his control to the maximum. He needed to keep training until the latter was possible as he wanted the senjutsu form to be his trump card.

Spotting a small, rolled up note on the table, Menma walked up to it, picked it up and noticed it was sealed. He rolled his eyes; typical father thing, probably. That and in case he didn't wake up in time before his 'baby sitters' arrived. After unsealing it, he read:

_Hey Naruto, _

_I know I'm supposed to call you 'Menma' but I felt like at least reminding you that you're still 'Naruto' regardless of your identity. Anyway, I'm sorry I couldn't make you and Naruto-kun any breakfast today. Had to leave early for the office as a mountain of paperwork needed my attention. I'll try to be home for lunch. If not, I'll be there for dinner. Don't want to miss being with you two, especially today. My students will come by today at 6:00 am and rotate shifts with a few trustworthy ANBU. Be good, stay out of trouble and you and Kurama don't overdo anything._

—_Minato _

"**Don't overdo it? He's making us look like we're up to no good!"** Kurama huffed childishly after reading the note along with Menma. **"And why is he scolding me in there, anyway?"**

'_Maybe because when you were bound to him, you did mischievous things?_'

The nine-tailed bijuu snorted. **"Only a few times." **He admitted.

'_And that's probably why._'

"**Hmph."**

'_Now, now, don't pout. Let's see, better get those baby food and that milk formula ready for Naru-chan. Or else I'll have to feel his crying wrath when he wakes up hungry._' After that, he'd start his plan. It was a good thing Minato had to attend to his 'precious' paperwork today; there wouldn't be any way for him to surprise his father with the jutsu. The only problem now as Obito. How could he get Obito to not come with them? He wanted it to be a father-son moment and while he admired the Uchiha and loved to hang out with him, this was important. Menma didn't want anything to ruin his perfectly thought out plan for his father's birthday gift. '_Maybe I can just tell Dad that I want it to be an "us" time. That way Obito will have to stay here and watch Naru-chan while we go to one of the training grounds. Hmm, hmm... Sounds plausible. But I'm going to need a Plan B in case that doesn't work. But I have a feeling the original plan will pull through nicely. But if it doesn't, then I guess it won't matter if there's a bit of an audience._'

* * *

7:16 pm

* * *

Minato sighed as he went through another batch of the unending paperwork, reading through reports, completed missions, failed missions, and anything in-between. He was upset because he couldn't even spend the lunch hour with his sons. Every parent would want to spend time with their kids and he was one _un_happy father. And this was supposed to be the happiest day of his life, aside from getting married or when his child was born! '_This is ridiculous,_' he grumbled but resigned to the fate of all Kage's bane. He wished he had some sort of distraction to diverge his attention, if only for a little while. Heck, even an assassin coming up and trying to kill him would be more entertaining than this!

As the clocked ticked by, his wish was answered in the form of one of his students, Uchiha Obito, rushing in through an open window. Minato was instantly focused on him, thanking kami for the distraction and wanting to know why the Uchiha Jinchuriki was here.

"Obito?"

"Minato-sensei! It's an emergency!"

The tone the teen used put him on edge. "What's wrong?"

"Menma has a stomach ache! And he was crying for you to come home! All of us tried to calm him down and Rin's healing him but he was very adamant about wanting you to be there." Well, that was a good enough excuse for him to get out of here.

"All right, I'm there." Minato hurried and used the Hiraishin, forgetting that Kurama would have already factored in the pain and cured it. The Hokage also missed the mischievous, cunning grin on his student's face.

'_Gotcha, sensei..._' He snickered to himself, with Kokuo joining him. To make it believable, he shunshin'd in a convincing hurry to get there. He got to slightly prank his teacher _and _help with getting the man to his house for the surprise. Ah, he'd have to thank his sensei's nephew one day. Being a kid and faking a stomach ache was the classic trick in the book!

* * *

7:18 pm

* * *

Minato wasted no time getting to his house. The space-time kekkai genkai of his allowed him to be there in an instant. He warped straight to the seal placed behind the door and hurried through the hallway to reach the stairs. As soon as his foot hit the bottom step...

"SURPRISE!"

The Hokage spun around, flashing a kunai in his hand but to his shock, there wasn't an enemy behind him. It was a few, trusting friends of his standing behind the table with a cake and the number "24" and his name imprinted in icing on it. Sarutobi Hiruzen, his predecessor, was there, his former students, Tsunade, her pupil Shizune, and heck even Jiraya-sensei was there. The older blond just stared before being snapped out of his stupor by Menma tugging on his coat. "Hey, ojisan! Are you there? Happy birthday!"

"...Uh, yes. But..."

"Come on, sensei! Come over here and cut your cake!" Rin cheerily squealed in delight. She had hand made the cake and the batter came out delicious, courtesy of Menma and Obito's taste testing earlier in the day. Obito shunshin'd just in time to see the marvel of his plan coming into fruition.

The kitchen was decorated with white, blue and yellow streamers, basically representing Minato in every way. There were only a few balloons and one balloon's string being occupied in Naruto's mouth, who had gained a single tooth and was using it wisely.

"Hah! Did you lose your mind doing all that paperwork in the office, Minato?" the white-haired Toad sage asked, drawing his former student's attention to him. "What are you waiting for? The sky to fall?"

"N-no, it's just...odd to see you all here in one place."

"Mm, true. Most of this was Obito's idea," Kakashi said, eying the Uchiha in question who chuckled from behind their sensei. Minato turned to smile at him.

"Really now? Well then, thank you, Obito for getting everyone together like this."

"Haa... It wasn't ALL of my idea! Y-you know, I had some help with everybody here! B-but yeah, you're welcome, sensei!"

Minato patted Obito's shoulder proudly before both joined with the rest of group. The cake was cut, presents were delivered and Rin and Tsunade threatening Jiraya about bringing his perverted books here when there were children in the house. Menma just laughed as he held Naruto in his lap, knowing full well Ero-sennin would be getting his just deserts soon enough. Presents were exchanged and very limited sake was given out due to Menma's and Naruto's presence there. Said sake was only given to Tsunade, Jiraya and Sarutobi. Many laughters were heard as stories were exchanged, mostly hilarious encounters or missions that turned out well. For the sake of things, Menma remained quiet and listened attentively to their tales, interested in what the veterans did when they had been younger. He had interesting tales too, but in order to keep up his identity, he couldn't share them with anyone other than his father and Tsunade in private.

Games were also played, though it was the teenaged shinobi showing Menma how to play them instead and the older adults watching on in amusement. Naruto, of course, cried when he didn't get a piece of cake. He had subconsciously tasted the flavor of the delicious delicacy through his older self's taste buds and he wanted it. Minato was anxious about giving the growing baby cake but Menma told him that he wanted it. True to his word, Naruto had grabbed and smashed his tiny fingers messily into his slice but had eventually ate it with only one tooth! Menma cringed at the sight of baby drool and his way of 'eating'. It looked more like a bear was tearing through its meal!

The 'party' didn't last long as the small crowd eventually waned out to leave after it was over. Tsunade had to hail her former teammate out of there by dragging him, as he apparently had too much sake. Sarutobi chuckled, recalling old times when he spotted his former students. He wished Minato a good night before leaving for his home. His students were next, leaving one by one. Kakashi made sure Rin left before he did before pulling out his Icha Icha to catch up on his reading time. He could never do it in front of her or Tsunade because of their obvious dislike of such fine 'art'. Obito was the last to leave, wanting to take an extra slice of the cake to give to Itachi as he promised the kid he would (even if he made no motion to respond verbally, but Obito knew Itachi wanted it anyway by studying his facial reaction).

Once everyone was gone, the excitement died down, and now it was just the three again, minus the hidden ANBU outside. Naruto was sleeping in Menma's arms, who had a bit trouble keeping the baby's head up.

"Looks like he's out for the count," Minato laughed lightly, spotting his two sons in the living room.

"Yeah. But, I can't believe he could taste the same things I can. That means he'll be craving ramen soon."

"Most likely."

"Um... Ojisan?"

"Yes?"

"Do you think you can get some ANBU to watch Naru-chan for a few minutes while we go out?"

Minato tilted his head. It was pretty late and while he remembered the five-year-old was technically a teenager in his own right, he still wanted Menma to get to bed early. Tomorrow, he had school and had to wake up early. His blue eyes glanced to the nearest clock in the room. It was 9:56 pm. He turned back to see that his older son was putting on the evil Puppy Dog Eyes Jutsu, making it hard to say no. He really wanted to decline, but how could anyone resist that face?

"Yes, I can. Is it important, Menma?"

Dropping the jutsu, aforesaid boy smiled. "Yeah, really important! Super swear it is."

"All right then. Let's put Naruto-kun to bed first and I'll assign a few ANBU in the room. But only for a few minutes, all right?" Minato relented. It wasn't that he didn't trust his personal guard with his infant son. No, he just didn't want him—either of them—out of his sight if he could help it. Beaming a nod of confirmation, Menma waited for his father to pick up Naruto off his lap and carry the baby upstairs to change him and dress him into his nightwear. The middle of the blonds remained downstairs and simply went to the door to grab his jacket and slip his sandals on. Four minutes later, Minato was coming downstairs already ready to go. There was a hint of curiosity in his eyes and Menma would play upon that. It was perfect. Okay, so this didn't go according to plan A or B, but this would work out nicely.

"Okay, can you use Hiraishin to an open Training ground?" He asked innocently.

"Menma, what—?"

"Please... ojisan. This... I-I'm going to show you _my_ gift for your birthday!" That would get him. And it did. Minato didn't have second doubts about it and promptly scooped up the small boy, much to his dismay, and flashed to the nearest training ground.

* * *

10:05 pm

* * *

In the middle of Training Ground 16 was a yellow flash that brightened up the immediate area then swiftly died down as it came. Minato placed his son down and waited for whatever it was that he was going to show him.

"Okay... I think it's safe. Dad," the aforementioned perked up when his parental name was called by his future son, "I'm going to show you something really cool and then help you do it!"

"Naruto? Are you going to show me a jutsu?"

Naruto frowned. "Hey, how'd you know I was going to do that?"

"Well, you somewhat dropped the hint back there."

"...Oh."

A light moment of pause stopped them from interacting with another, both collecting their own thoughts. Minato wondered what his son was going to show him while Naruto was hoping his father liked the jutsu he created based off the Rasengan. Taking a deep breath, the younger blond was able to break the silence.

"Okay... now watch this, Dad." He got Minato's undivided attention. Naruto closed his eyes, staying perfectly still as he felt the natural energy in abundance. He reached sage mode and accelerated it to Rikudo mode but barely tapped into a quarter of it. After gathering the necessary natural energy, he owned his now yellow eyes, and placed his hands in a familiar cross sign. "Dad, you know how to reach Sage Mode, right?" He received a nod. "All right, since this technique's too much for my body to normally handle, I have to use it to maintain the jutsu and to keep my body intact. When I get older, I'll be able to handle it better. But, as a precaution, I advise to enter Sage Mode before attempting this."

Naruto summoned up a Kage Bunshin and held out his right hand as he began to channel charka in a constant rotation. The chakra slowly shaped into a familiar sphere Minato knew all too well, and his facial expression matched his surprise.

"Rasengan?"

"Not just _any_ Rasengan." Here, Naruto smirked. Once it completed, the clone began applying the wind element into it, making the sphere turn into a star-shaped form. Minato could hardly believe what he was seeing. His son _added_ an element to it? He had been working on that for a few years before he married Kushina and his boy was doing something he could only dream of doing! There was pride in his eyes as he watched the Rasengan-variant build up in size in the boy's hand and the clone dispelled itself. "This is what I made, derived from your jutsu, Dad. I call it the Rasenshuriken!"

Smiling proudly, Naruto turned looked around until he spotted a direction that led away from the village. Grinning he raised his hand and threw it with hardly any effort. The jutsu cleaved through the surrounding trees and water like a hot knife through butter, causing a massive explosion when it collided with a mountainside that wasn't the Hokage Monument, thank goodness. Minato's eyes widened even further. He just...just _threw_ it like it was nothing! How much power did his son really have?

"Heh, whoops. I think I overdid it just a little."

"_Just_ a little? Naruto... How could you say that? You...tossed it like it was nothing!"

"Um... I dunno?" He shrugged. "Anyway, showing you how to do that is my gift to you, Dad. So happy birthday!" Naruto exited the Sage Mode and bounded over to his still-stunned father, catching him off guard with a hug. Minato caught him and proudly hugged the small-teenager-boy, feeling twenty years older but had a sparkling glint in his eyes. If he could master that variation of the Rasengan, then it...oh! He couldn't wait!

"Thank you, Naruto. It's overwhelming, but I did enjoy it. You will write down the steps for it, correct?"

"Huh, yeah. I just need a scroll. I can get one of my clones to write down the steps necessary because I know that takes forever and a half. I'll probably need the whole next weekend to do that. You can wait for that, hm?"

"Of course. Take all the time you need, there's no hurry. Now, let's get home because you have school tomorrow and I have that pile of paperwork to finish."

"Aww, all right." Naruto groaned but complied. When they flashed back to the house, Minato decided to carry his future son to the shared room, still having a light and happy step. He was jittery in excitement over seeing the jutsu and, despite what he told the boy, he really _couldn't_ wait for it. But, he'd put his urge aside and wait anyhow. As he settled the smaller blond down on his bed, they shared a moment of silent, staring into each other's similar, blue eyes.

"I'm very proud of you, Menma. Don't forget that."

A wide grin flashed across the aforesaid boy's face. "Thank you, ojisan. And hey, you know, if you can use the Kage Bunshin, why don't you use it for your paperwork?" He watched the smile on Minato's face slowly turn crestfallen as the Hokage life flashed before his very eyes. All that paperwork that was the bane of all Kage's, undefeated for many generations. The secret to it all was Senju Tobirama's kinjutsu. And that man hadn't even used his _own _technique to combat it! Minato face-palmed.

"Of course! I've been going on for so long without even thinking of that. Hah, that's a shame." Minato chuckled lightly. He patted his older son's head, his smile returning. "I can count that as my second gift from you, can't I?"

"Uh-huh. But don't tell Sarutobi-jiji the secret yet! You have to wait until he comes into the office and there's nothing there on the desk!" Menma snickered evilly. Minato's face shifted into an evil grin of its own.

"Oh, don't worry. I'll be keeping it between us."

"Hehehe."

"Anyway, get to bed now, Menma. You have to get up tomorrow for school."

"I know. Good night, ojisan!"

"Good night, Menma." Minato said after ruffling the kid's hair and exited the room. He waved the ANBU guard to return to their posts and his grin never left his face. His gift from his son would be coveted until the day he died, hopefully not anytime soon, and he also had the key to combating the evil bane of all Kage's and those in higher position. All in all, this birthday would be remembered as one of his best.

* * *

Two Years Later

Thursday, April 28 403 NE

Exams

* * *

"Ojisan, I'm going off to school now!" seven-year-old Menma shouted as he scrambled to the door. It was 7:18, he had time, but anything close to 7:30 am still petrified the boy. Well, he was technically twenty-one now, but he figured his old age didn't matter anymore because his inner mindscape personification shifted to look like his kid self with his old memories. Such is life.

"All right, Menma! Don't be late and do your best on your exam!" Minato called out.

"Bye-bye Memma-nii!" Little Naruto shouted out from the top of his lungs.

"Bye Naru-chan! I'll see you when I get home!"

"Okay! Me wait and you and me play ninja latter!" the little tyke replied back jovially, mispronouncing the last word incorrectly. Ah well, it was a good try. Menma just laughed and raced outside in a hurry. He proved himself through two, long years of the academy and would soon be graduating with Itachi and the rest of the class, despite the small handicap of entering a little late. After that, he'd be accelerating through the ranks just as fast to get to his beloved jonin rank where he belonged. '_Almost there. This is the first step._' He thought to himself. The blond zoomed past many civilians as he darted to and fro, dodging their legs and other obstacles to get to the Academy.

Along the way, he spotted Itachi walking along from the Uchiha Compound with his mother, Mikoto and her two-year-old son, Sasuke. Seeing the little baby version of his best friend brought a warm smile to his face. "Hey, Itachi-kun!" Menma shouted to get his attention. The normally stoic boy paused lightly and turned to see the barreling bundle of blond hair from the distance. His mother also stopped, wondering who was yelling but when she saw who it was, she instantly frowned. This was the Hokage's nephew, as her husband informed her, and was the Kyuubi container. At first, she didn't want her first born son associating with him unless in the classroom, but after spending one day with the blond, Itachi made it reason to acquaint himself with their leader's relative.

Then, after that, Itachi went from the silent, stoic boy she and Fugaku knew into something else. Sure, the boy wasn't as talkative, but when you got him engaged, his usually monotonous voice would have a hint of glee or some other emotion in it. And, most of his topics revolved around the Hokage's energetic nephew. Whatever this boy was doing to her son, she did like it, but why did it have to be the Kyuubi container...

Itachi recognized the boy, his second friend, and a light smile showed itself on his face. "Menma-kun, good morning." He greeted his fellow prodigy when he was close enough to hear him.

"Good morning to you too! Hey, ready for the exam?"

"Yes. Are you?"

"You know it! I've been practicing." Menma smiled proudly. His blue eyes then spotted Mikoto and grinned again. "Hello! I'm Namikaze Menma!" He offered his name and bowed respectfully. Menma knew this was Itachi's mother, but since he'd never been over to the Uchiha Compound in this time, he didn't want to sound suspicious by knowing her name. Itachi never shared information about his parents with him when they got together to train or just simply hang out with Shisui (when the other boy could). All he mentioned was his little brother, Sasuke in their conversations and likewise, all Menma talked about was his little cousin, Naruto. They both hoped their respective subjects got along when they entered the academy later on down the road.

"Oh, hello, Menma. My name is Uchiha Mikoto. I'm Itachi's and Sasuke's mother," she motioned to the dark-haired bundle in her arms, smiling sweetly. "It's finally good to meet you."

"It's good to meet you as well, Uchiha-sama."

"Please, just Mikoto-san. Nothing to formal."

"Um...o-okay, Mikoto-san."

Itachi let out a very light chuckle but it stopped immediately when Menma and his mother glanced his way.

"Anyway, you boys better hurry to the academy. I heard you were getting ready for an exam today?"

"Oh, right! We better go or Ishihara-sensei will fry us!" Menma grabbed Itachi's hand and sped off in the direction of the academy. "Bye Mikoto-san! See you again!" The older male Uchiha simply nodded his head in his mother's direction as she waved goodbye and wished them good luck.

It was 7:28 am when the pair of seven-year-olds reached their classroom, Menma hurriedly swinging the door open and rushing them inside. Their classmates that were already there were using the spare time to chat away, not really paying attention to the two younger kids. Their sensei noticed them but made no comment about their arrival. As long as they were on time, it didn't matter. Right after them, Umino Iruka entered, not late this time, and grinning proudly that he made it.

The female Uchiha noticed Menma and smiled at him as he passed her by. Of course, being the oblivious boy he was, he didn't notice it. Still, that didn't dampen her mood. There were a couple times when he'd notice her, smile back and she would blush from it. She didn't know why, but she liked it when he was happy.

Uchiha Naori, another young 'prodigy' of the Uchiha clan, was five when she first entered the academy, just after Itachi. She didn't have the same stuck-up 'Uchiha-ness' like majority of her clansmen. If anything, she was similar to her older brother, Shisui. Just like the two boys that entered the classroom, she was also seven years old, nearly going on eight. Her wavy, violet hair grew out, close to her back and she was wearing the standard Uchiha clothing, except her shirt matched her hair color slightly. Her cropped bangs helped frame her face while the rest hung over her shoulders.

During the classroom time, there were many Itachi fangirls and Menma fangirls, the first because he was a stoic, emo- and cool-looking "hunk" as many girls would say. Whereas with Menma, his fangirls adored his hair color, the "cute" whisker-like marks on his cheeks and of course, his relation to the Yondaime did him some wonders, too. Both attracted girls with their prowess at bukijutsu and ninjutsu skills. For the most part, both ignored their fangirls but somewhat acknowledged their presence when they could.

Which led to mob chases for the two boys. The girls screaming out their names as they chased them around the village until the two found a way to ditch them. Only for the vicious cycle to repeat itself the next day.

Naori, like her good friend, Okane Suiren [2], only admired the boys for who they are and not for what they can do. Naori admired Menma whereas Suiren admired Itachi. Of course, the two couldn't even get _near_ their respective boy without being run down by the combined mobs.

As soon as the bell rang, Ishihara closed the door. "All right everyone, get in your seats. Today's a big day for some of you." Excited whispers and chatters went around the room. Itachi and Menma remained silent as they sat beside each other, both holding their own version of an amused grin. "For those of you who don't know, some of your classmates have excelled further in their studies and have been given an early promotion exam to possibly graduate." The instructor said. A lot of students gasped and wondered who these students of theirs were. Some looked straight at Itachi, as if knowing he were one of them. Of course, they were right, but still. "When I call your name, those who are taking the Early Promotion Exam, please line up here in the front of the classroom. You'll be escorted to the examination room where you will be tested." He unraveled a scroll and began reading the names off.

"Inuzuka Hana, Namikaze Menma, Okane Suiren, Uchiha Itachi, Uchiha Naori and Umino Iruka!" The six that were called off stood up. Menma stole a glance at Iruka and noticed he was shocked to see that his name was called. '_Looks like Iruka-sensei didn't know he was doing so well to be recommend an early pass._' The blond thought to himself. However, another student, one with silvery blond hair that Menma didn't notice until now looked upset. It took a quick second before Menma recognized who it was and narrowed his eyes. '_Mizuki-teme. How'd I forget he was here?_'

"**Perhaps because you were too focused on your studies and befriending Itachi that you didn't notice the bastard."** Kurama said with a feral growl. He didn't like that man—the brat now—any more than his Naruto did. The pair decided to ignore the little teme for now and concentrate on the upcoming test. Once the students were lined up in the front of the classroom, another instructor came in and directed the six to follow him.

When they arrived at the examination room, there was a small waiting room, an outdoor area and another inside room where they would be tested for their throwing and accuracy skill, taijutsu and then the Academy Three. Three chunin instructors were inside with their grading tablets in hand.

One of the chunin stepped up to meet them, all ready to begin the test. "All right, when we call your name, stand here on this line and and we'll begin the bukijutsu exam. Now then, will Inuzuka Hana step forward, please?"

* * *

12:04 pm

* * *

Menma walked out of the examination room, beaming with his brand new hitai-ate around his forehead an hour ago. He had waited for Itachi and the others to come out with their results and wasn't too surprised when they all had their own hitai-ate as well. It was a miracle all six of them passed. It was a great feeling to have passed it the first time though! They were all told to come to Room 103-B tomorrow for their ceremony with another graduating class. Smiling, Menma and Itachi shared a knowing look and clasped their hands together. After being dismissed to go home for the day, the six left, all feeling proud of themselves.

"I can't wait to show my dad!" Iruka beamed happily. Menma found out that Iruka's father survived the Kyuubi attack years ago, but not his mother. It was a shame, but at least the teacher he knew as a big brother in his time had at least one parent with him.

"Same! Mom's gonna be so proud of me!" Hana laughed, her triplet ninken barking in unison to express their delight.

"Father will...also be proud of my accomplishment." Itachi stated monotonously.

"Ne, Itachi-san. My niisan will explode with delight!" Naori giggled, watching her fellow Uchiha nod in agreement. His best friend's sister was really strange to him. There were times where she reminded him of his cousin, Obito.

"Ah, I've been waiting for this day to come," Suiren smiled, casting a glance towards Itachi. Of course he didn't notice her but that was all right. One day she would get him to notice her.

"Yeah, my ojisan's going to be really proud of me, too! I can't wait to show him!" Menma chirped last. "Hey, do you all wanna go get some ramen to celebrate?" He asked next, hoping they would. To his delight, the other five agreed.

"Sure, Menma. Since Hokage-sama's your uncle, maybe you can pay for the rest of us?" Suiren asked with a light tease. Iruka, Hana and Naori laughed while Itachi simply let out a soft chuckle of sorts.

Menma grumbled in mock hurt. "Hey, I'm not your walking wallet Suiren-chan! I only get an allowance every two weeks!" He shot back with a smirk. "Anyway, to Ichiraku Ramen!"

The six marched their way to their destination, taking up the most of the stools to the ramen stand. Each one ordered and Menma limited himself to only three bowls since he didn't have that much ryo to spend and he needed to save up for more training weights and equipment. While they weren't close friends yet, they all shared some of their stories they experience at home, most of them funny while others about clan jutsu and kekkai genkai—if they had one. Itachi told them he was able to activate his Sharingan and demonstrated it while Iruka showed off a rare, if not valuable, nature transformation blood limit. The boy crystallized his chopsticks [3], surprising everyone. After the display and another bowl from Menma later, the six decided to go home and tell their respective guardians of their achievements.

After waving everyone good bye and seeing them tomorrow for the ceremony, Menma stepped up his stride and hurried to the Namikaze estate. He couldn't wait to tell his dad/uncle and of course, little Naruto of his passing of the exam. After all, it was cakewalk, but it still felt good knowing he passed on the first try, especially on the early promotion exam, too!

* * *

Next Week

Wednesday, May 6 403 NE

* * *

Today was the six new genin's day to be assigned to a team and a jonin sensei. They were told to wait in another room, in Room 104-A. The other graduates were also there, doing the same thing. Most got bored and began making conversations with another. Another ten minutes flew by and an instructor came in to announce the teams. As students' names were being called off with a numbered team, Menma was hoping he would be on the same team as Itachi. If that happened, he would be able to bond much closer to the boy and that was one of his goals. The closer the better the influence.

So when the chunin instructor called off for Team 6 to be Inuzuka Hana, Okane Suiren and Uchiha Naori, Menma beamed, silently, to himself. He knew, thanks to Kurama, that the Uchiha girl liked him, kind of how Hinata did. To be frank, Menma didn't know how to react _this_ time. He technically had been married already once and didn't know if death and being brought back to life counted as 'til death do us apart' in those marriage vows. It's not like he divorced Hinata intentionally. Actually, because he tried his best to forgive the past but never let it go, he didn't know if he could pursue _that_ route again.

Then again, he sort of discarded his old life by forgetting he was supposed to be twenty-one years old. His body looked seven, and not older than that, even though he could solid henge into his older self. But, if he left that behind, did that mean he stopped loving Hinata? No, he'd never stop loving her because she was his, and at the same time, he had gotten so used to this new life. Was there really a way back?

No... No there couldn't be. Because even if there was, there wasn't a body for his soul to attach to. He started a new life and while he would never forget his old one, he couldn't let it cloud him. Maybe, maybe there was a _chance_ he could be happy here, too. Hinata would want him to be if she found out he was alive but couldn't return to their time. And, he the same. If she found love with another, he wouldn't mind it. He left with no regrets, and he hoped she wouldn't have any if she did remarry. Just as long as her son—their son—kept _his_ name in remembrance of his legacy.

"Team 10 will consist of Namikaze Menma, Uchiha Itachi and Umino Iruka. Your jonin sensei is Hyuuga Tokuma. [4]" Well, what irony this was turning out to be. Having a Hyuuga as a sensei? Well, at least this person didn't sound snobbish. Menma only hoped their new sensei wasn't.

* * *

Ten Minutes Later

* * *

The three boys waited patiently in the classroom for their sensei, who was surprisingly a Hyuuga. They heard his name earlier, but wow. Menma never heard of one before, but then again, things in this time were different. They still had their 'holier than thou' attitude along with majority of their rival clan, the Uchiha, but they were loyal citizens of Konoha. So, when a young man in his mid-teens, most likely around Kakashi's age, bearing the dark, brown hair and white eyes of the Byakugan that were notable traits of the Hyuuga clan, Menma's world seriously flipped 180, no pun intended. If he hadn't known any better, he would have said Neji had a long lost twin brother.

The young man had pale skin like many others of his people did, having a bandanna styled hitai-ate, and his brown hair was short, unlike most of his clansmen. The only difference was that two, long strands hung in front of his face and had two beads wrapped through his locks. He wore the standard jonin flask vest, a black shirt underneath and matching shinobi pants and sandals. On the back of his vest, instead of the red swirl, the Hyuuga clan's symbol replaced it.

"Team 10? Namikaze Menma, Uchiha Itachi and Umino Iruka? Can you three please follow me to the roof?" The man said, rather softly. Wow, he wasn't like the rest of his stuck-up stubborn clansmen, either. There must be some rare breeds of the dojutsu clans that shell out non-clan like members every twenty years or something. The three boys stood up from their chairs and exited the classroom with the man. The other students' jonin sensei hadn't arrived yet so they were left behind.

Once reaching the roof, the white-eyed Hyuuga sensei turned to each of them, smiling.

"Hello Team 10. As you know, I'm your jonin sensei. How about we start by introducing ourselves with our names, likes, dislikes, hobbies and dreams?"

"Hey, uh, sensei? Can you go first?" Iruka asked.

"Sure. My name is Hyuuga Tokuma. I was promoted to jonin rank a few months ago. I like dango mostly, practicing with my kekkai genkai, the Byakugan, watching out for my fellow, former teammates, Ranka and Aburame Muta and of course becoming a jonin sensei for new genin for the first time. I dislike those who kill innocent people or who have no regard for human life. I personally don't have many hobbies as I'm too busy to relax for any. My dream is to be accepted into the Infiltration and Reconnaissance Party." He finished politely, smiling to his new students, "Now then, it's your turn. Let's begin with you, young man." Tokuma nodded to Iruka.

Aforementioned brunet chuckled in embarrassment before starting. "Um, my name is Umino Iruka. I like to visit the hot springs with my dad sometimes when he's off duty and I like to eat at Ichiraku Ramen, too. I don't like mazegohan or bullies. My hobbies are to practice my abilities with my nature transformation with my dad, hanging out with my friends," he glanced to Itachi and Menma as emphasis, "and helping out the villagers when I can. My dream is to be a worthy shinobi of Konoha and become an Academy Instructor."

"Good, good, Umino-san. I do hope you can accomplish your dream." Tokuma praised, eyes upon the Uchiha next. "And you?"

"I am Uchiha Itachi, age seven. I enjoy spending time with my otouto, Sasuke and...my friends..." Itachi side glances at Iruka and Menma, "Onigiri and cabbage with seaweed is a favorite food of mine to enjoy from time to time. I do not like steak or foolishness. One of my hobbies are visiting many of Konoha's cafés. My dream is instill the Will of Fire into the Uchiha Clan." Short, sweet and to the point. Tokuma nodded, still keeping his cheerful smile.

"Very good, Uchiha-san, now you," their sensei looked at Menma. Said boy grinned.

"My name is Namikaze Menma, also age seven. My likes are ramen, spending time with my friends, Iruka, Itachi, Naori, Hana and Suiren. I also like my ojisan, the Yondaime Hokage and my cousin, Naruto. I also enjoy spending time with them when I'm not busy gardening or training. I dislike people who don't like me for no reason or when people hurt my family and friends. My hobbies used to include pranking, but now it's mostly just enjoying time with people I know. My dream is to protect my loved ones and one day, unite all Five Great Shinobi Nations as one."

"I see. I hope one day you will accomplish that dream as well, Namikaze-san. All three of you, I do hope it happens. Tomorrow, we will be using Training Ground 4. I will test you to see if you're ready to become a genin team. Please be there at 8:00 am, no later. Be sure to go to bed early and eat an hour earlier in the morning so you will have enough stamina for the test. You're all dismissed now."

* * *

Three Years Later

Saturday December 3 406 NE

* * *

It had been a few years since Team 10 had been formed. All three had been promoted to chunin two years prior. The Chunin Exams were held in Sunagakure that time. Menma had been bouncing on his heels then because he had the opportunity to meet his ex-best friend, Gaara, albeit, a mini-sized Gaara who was only five years old and still unsure of himself. The little red-haired boy was in a park, sitting on a swing all by himself as other kids played very far away from him. Menma felt a pang of guilt and pain in his heart that he took the time to try and make friends with the Ichibi Jinchuriki. It was a good thing this didn't change; he wouldn't know what to do if Gaara wasn't, well, not Gaara. Their bond, their friendship, only happened because of their connection to the bijuu.

So when he went to speak to the boy, many were giving him odd stares. Most likely thinking "what's that boy doing?" and "why is he associating with that monster?" Hmph, he didn't care at all what they thought. He was able to convince the boy to play with him, even if he protested because of his inability to control the sand. Menma never minded that and gave the future Kazekage what he craved; love and friendship. He was only eight at the time, three years older than Gaara, but it didn't matter. If he took off his hitai-ate, he'd look like a regular kid. Though their playtime was often cut short because of the Chunin Exam, Menma made sure to drop by and show up to give Gaara reassurance that he was still here and still his friend, no matter what.

He also managed to rope Itachi and Iruka into befriending the boy, both accepting the five year old after awhile of being in his company.

When the exams were over and the three promoted, they had to leave for Konoha again. Menma promised he would send letters to Gaara and also introduced to him his cousin, named Naruto, who would become his friend one day when they met. Before he left, Gaara told him he would work hard to become a shinobi just like him and be the Kazekage one day. Menma smiled genuinely at the red-haired boy, ruffling his hair and telling him that he truly believed he could do it, no matter what. The praise and attention was soaked up like a sponge; Gaara had given the blond a hug and told him to visit if he could. It was hard to leave Gaara there, but he advised him to try and get along with his siblings, Temari and Kankuro.

After departing, Menma sighed in relief; the chunin exams, at least this time, went by well. No Orochimaru. No Sound and Sand invasion to interrupt. No Sasuke leaving them. Speaking of Orochimaru... He'd need to find out where that teme was and put him in his place. But, first thing's first: become a jonin, hopefully travel to Suna again with his dad and continue the strong allying power between it and Konoha so Orochimaru won't have to gain control and kill Gaara's father. As much as Menma didn't approve of him, he was still the Sand siblings' only surviving parent and the man could use a second chance to get it right.

But now, they were getting to the jonin exams and they were approaching soon. Unfortunately for Menma, Iruka only wanted to become a chunin instructor at the academy and had went to follow that path. Itachi, much to Menma's dismay, joined the ANBU ranks, even at the young age of eleven. Tokuma, their jonin sensei, was eventually recruited into the Infiltration and Reconnaissance Party, which left Menma out of the loop of becoming a jonin by himself.

Or so he thought.

"Hey, Menma!" Well, there was Obito's voice.

"Huh? Hey Obito-san!" Menma smiled when his fellow chunin approached him. "Anything new going on between you and Rin?"

"W-w-well n-n-not m-much! Hey, don't use Rin against me!" Obito stammered in frustration.

Chuckling to himself, Menma tilted his head. "Yeah? Anyway, what's up?"

"Oh yeah, Minato-sensei will be asking for potential chunin for the jonin exams that are coming up. Tokuma-san, your former sensei, recommended you since you're the only one out of the former Team 10 to have not joined another sector of the village," the Uchiha explained. "He wants all the chunin at the Hokage Tower in his office in ten minutes. Thought I'd let you know since you're technically 'babysitting' Naruto."

"I'm not babysitting him. He's six years old now, definitely mature enough to handle himself."

"Yet you were assigned to watch him as a C-rank mission."

"Hah, because he's a little prankster. I taught him everything he needs to know." The eleven-year-old smirked proudly.

"...Of course you did. Nobody will forget how you two painted the Hokage Monument, while wearing _orange_ of all colors, and managed to avoid several chunin, jonin and ANBU two months ago. Gosh, you two really are alike sometimes it's kind of scary."

Menma simply laughed along. Obito had _no_ idea.

"Anyway, yeah, don't be late to the meeting."

"Says you."

"Watch it, shrimp."

"You watch it."

With a mock pout, Obito shunshin'd away, leaving Menma to watching his cousin, who was currently playing with a young Sasuke, Hinata, and Sakura. For some reason or other, the other clan heads had dropped off their kids at the same park; Shino, Kiba, Shikamaru, Choji, Ino and even Neji and Lee were there. They assumed that the Hokage's nephew was well suited to watch more kids and that the little bundle of energy that was Naruto wasn't enough. The whole gang was nearly there; the only ones missing were Tenten and Sai. The latter was within ROOT though, so there was no way he would meet the others.

The kids were all laughing and having fun, well, except the little Shikamaru, who was too lazy to play with them and wanted to watch the clouds instead. Choji joined his childhood friend, eating from a small bag. Well, at least Naruto had others his age to play with.

"Hey, hey everybody! Guess what? My ikoto is a ninja! He's really cool!" Ahh, little Naruto. Menma face-palmed. The kids all turned their attention to the older blond and began to circle (and trap) him like little goblins waiting to eat. Even the Nara boy found it not so troublesome to join the crowd.

"My nii-san is a ninja too!" Sasuke said, also getting the attention of the other kids. "He's on a mission!"

"Yeah? My big sis is also a ninja! She's like, the best!" Kiba boasted proudly.

"Well, those two are nothing like my cousin! He's the best one ever!" Naruto argued back.

All the little kids began their heated debate about which older sibling/cousin was better, except for the ever quiet Shino, making Menma feel out of place and still trapped. He could try to shunshin out of here but then he didn't want to accidentally hurt them since some were leaning against him without knowing it. If he moved, he'd make them tumble over each other. And that wouldn't look good on his future resume.

"Hey, everybody, calm down, will you?" he tried to get the little demons to listen. Thankfully, it worked. Anything to do with the shinobi had them listening with rapt attention. "No one ninja is better than the other. We're all equal; just different. We all have different skills and abilities, but that doesn't make one ninja better than the other. And, Itachi was a teammate of mine, so we're equals." He smiled when both Sasuke and Naruto gasped.

"Hey, u-um, Namikaze-san?" Sakura looked up at him with pleading, green eyes.

"Mm?"

"C-can you show us a really cool jutsu?" She asked. Well, how could he say no to that face? For some reason, he felt a sense of deja vu sweep over him but ignored it.

"All right, but only one. After that, I have to go see the Hokage because he has something very important to tell me. Hatake-san will be here in my place to watch you all for a while and then I'll be back!" He hoped his smile would convince them. Many of them watched him with different expressions, but they all seemed to understand. Good.

Except for Naruto, of course. "Hey, Menma-niisan, what's my tou-san gonna tell you? Can we know what it is?"

"Ah, no not right now, Naruto-kun. It's a secret." Menma eye-smiled to them. The kids groaned in complaint but got over it when the eleven-year-old proclaimed, "Okay, who's ready to see my cool jutsu?" Shouts of "Me! Me! Me!" and "I do!" chorused around him. Laughing a bit, the blond-haired chunin stepped a little ways from them.

"Okay, stay behind me and watch this!" Menma began to mold chakra together. Since the kids were nearby, he didn't want to put too much power into it, so he toned it down to half strength. He tapped a tiny bit of Kurama's chakra and from the tip of his right finger, a small sphere of a miniature sized Rasenshuriken formed. He had his back to the kids, but his eyes shone reddish-orange tint, indicating the use of the bijuu's minimal, but still influenced, chakra. They all looked at the tiny technique and formed.

"That's so small. What's that supposed to do?" the small Sasuke asked, crossing his arms.

"Just watch." Menma grinned and sent the miniature technique into a nearby tree. When it impacted, it cleaved the tree into multiple pieces before collapsing to the ground with a loud collection of 'thud's'. The kids' eyes widened when it happened.

"Wow, did you see that!?"

"It was so small but it did that to that tree!"

"Hmm... interesting and troublesome."

"Ne, I've gotta tell me dad!"

"O-oh... Th-that's so cool."

"..."

"H-h-haa! I-I bet my sister could do that, too!"

"That was really awesome, but I bet my nii-san could still do something just as cool."

"Yeah, that was super cool, Menma-nii! Do it again!"

Menma, unfortunately, had to decline their offer. He really needed to go, now that he sensed Kakashi's chakra signature nearby. "Sorry kids, but I really have to go. Maybe some other time." Majority of them whined in protest. "Really sorry. Anyway, you guys have fun, okay? I'll play with you again another day. Hello Kakashi."

Aformentioned jonin appeared, not with his Icha Icha because he knew Rin was surveying every area of the village in case he was had said book when he was around children. Somehow, she could even outside the village. It was like a sixth sense to her. "Yo." He said simply. "Playing with the little future genins, Menma?"

"Hehe, someone's gotta entertain them from time to time. Plus, they really like it and it motivates them to become ninja."

"Mm, true. Anyway, you better scoot on over to Minato-sensei's office and pronto."

"I know. Thanks for taking over for me. See ya." Menma surprised the kids by using the shunshin. Naruto and Sasuke were practically chatting about the jutsu Menma used and claimed they'd become ninjas, too. Hinata wanted to become a kunoichi, one worthy of her clan, and since her precious 'Naruto-kun' was going to do it, she may as well try it. Ino and Sakura were also adamantly chatting about becoming kunoichi as well and Shikamaru, although looked very bored, pondered the idea. Choji thought of it and Shino and Kiba, one quiet and the other loud, decided to maybe think it over. Soon, their attention turned to Kakashi, who was looking down at them, bored.

"Hey, let's play with Kakashi-niisan!" Naruto decided the 'new' game for everybody. Majority of them agreed and now surrounded the tall silver-haired man.

'_Sigh... My life as a jonin._' Kakashi groaned to himself. Kids; he just couldn't deal with them!

* * *

**AN:** Haha, I'm so...evil. I guess. Been typing this chapter all day. So again, not too much action until next chapter. Hopefully this all wasn't confusing in any way. Also, next chapter will start following the canon events, but of course with tons of twists.

[1] Ishihara Nori – just a made up character I tossed in. No real plot behind him; he's just there as a sensei.

[2] Okane Suiren – The character 'Suiren' is a real character from the Naruto series. She's anime-only and originally from Kirigakure I believe. I barely watched the episode she aired in (I was too tired, but I did like her design). So I tossed her in here. Okane isn't her real surname; again, I threw it on her for team-related purposes in this chapter and stuff. From my research, it means 'great deity.'

[3] Yep, I gave Iruka the kekkai genkai of crystal release because Wynaut? Sorry, but I want him to play a valuable role later on in the story.

[4] Hyuuga Tokuma – he's also a real character from the series. Not a lot of information of him to go off on, and I can't find what episode he was in to get a good feel of his character, so I sort of placed a personality on him for just this chapter. His rank is unknown but I'm willing to bet he's of jonin rank though.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter. Until next time~


	6. Intermezzo

**AN:** Hello again! Thanks again for staying tuned and more faves and the like. I also got around to watching those episodes given to me too, so thanks. Anyway, this is the chapter where canon events will start. This is all the chapter in which the genin teams will come out, more information about the villains and other development. Also, sorry for no Baby!Naruto and Future!Naruto scenes. I'll make it up by having some brotherly-cousin scene instead!

Also, most of the mentioned in reviews get answered in the upcoming chapters. Especially Danzo, who's not done trying to get his hands on Memmi-kun and the like. Orochimaru's involvement is important to my story; all I'll say is that his objectives will be different.

Enjoy chapter 6~

* * *

Intermezzo

6

* * *

Next Year

Wednesday, January 29 407 NE

2:37 pm

As soon as the bell rang to excuse the class for the day, Naruto, in all his hardly containable excitement, couldn't _wait_ to get out! The week was almost over and the weekend was drawing closer. His well admired cousin had been gone on a mission that his father assigned him for a long, grueling month. Naruto couldn't take it; he was and had gotten so used to his much loved cousin being there in the village or at home with him. The boy loved to watch him train and sometimes offered to train with him. Other times, all three of them—that included his father—went to the training grounds to spend time doing just that. For Naruto, it was heaven. He just loved the family time they spent together. But, when his cousin had been sent out on a mission last month, after his promotion to jonin rank, Naruto grumbled in disdain.

He often questioned why he had to go on a mission when the holidays were coming close, but his father, the Yondaime Hokage, told him that there were 'remnants of the Third War still going on' and ended the discussion there. The answer didn't really please the six-year-old boy; he really just wanted to know why the shinobi that had been sent was his _cousin_ and not somebody else. The weeks flew by and Menma didn't come back, not even for the valued holiday when it approached. Naruto didn't care much for the gifts he received, even if he liked them. He just _really_ wanted Menma to come back where it was safe.

When New Years was approaching, Naruto had high hoped his cousin would maybe surprise him and appear at the last minute, with that funny, fox-like grin on his face. The littler blond hoped and wished with all his heart.

But it didn't happen.

He was thoroughly disappointed, so much, he thought the feeling came back at him double fold for a second. For a little while, he believed his cousin _was_ back. Whenever he around the aforementioned, he felt all sorts of emotions. Most of it was happiness and a faint hint of curiosity. When Menma smiled, Naruto felt extremely compelled to mimic the smile. When Menma was frowning or felt sad, for some reason, Naruto felt the same way. The boy became aware that several—if not all—of Menma's emotions, had...flushed into him? Whenever he was around Menma, he couldn't tell what it was but there was _something_ that attracted him to the older boy. Like a moth to a flame, some would say. But, that was because he was his cousin, right? He labeled Menma as his adoring "nii-san" a lot. He felt more like an older brother than a cousin, to be truthfully honest with himself. Naruto was about six years younger than Menma, so it made sense. Then again, cousins sometimes could be older, too. But for the Yondaime's young son, he just felt—maybe subconsciously _knew—_that Menma was like an older to him. In many occasions to his own thoughts, he thought he knew Menma more than he saw. He felt complete, whole and not empty, if that made any sense, when around Menma's presence. Naruto joked to himself that maybe he felt what Menma did because they were family and families were closely knitted together like that.

Naruto, however, didn't know just _how_ closely tied he was to Menma.

But, when his father informed him, a week ago, that Menma and a team sent out with him would be returning very soon, Naruto couldn't help but feel elated. Super excited, relieved and giddy. He was so depressed and angry without the blond jonin's presence nearby. He felt magnetized to him, really. It had been hard to concentrate on his schoolwork and the academy training because of Menma's absence conflicting his mind. His grades didn't drop but his work ethics slacked a bit. Naruto was sure his father was worried about it, but Naruto confessed that because he was very concerned about Menma's well-being and couldn't wait for him to come back.

Now that he was...

Nothing could dampen Naruto's mood. The past two days flew by for him and he was grateful they did. They had been agonizingly slow at the start but when he started working on his assignments, they had gone by faster. When Monday came and gone, Naruto had looked a little sad that he didn't see nor hear of his cousin's return but thought tomorrow would hold better results. So he waited and Tuesday flew by, too. Still nothing—no news of Menma. But today, perhaps it would hold promise! Wednesdays seemed like lucky days for Naruto.

He darted out of the classroom like a bullet, rushing outside with a huge grin on his face. He nearly knocked down some chunin instructors that had been in his way—or were about to be in his way. '_Gotta get outside. Maybe he'll be here to pick me up!_' Naruto thought over and over, hoping. He avoided hitting other students as he barreled past them, reaching the doors of the academy and pushing them open. Naruto rushed to his favorite waiting spot, the swing in front of the school, and sat on it, waiting patiently. Parents and older siblings of the academy students smiled at the little boy when they spotted him. Some of them waving at him or addressing him as "Naruto-sama" when he was near.

The boy understood why he was receiving the honorifics, and he tried telling them (politely) to stop but they insisted. One of many perks—and curses—of being the Yondaime's son. '_At least they aren't calling me "Honorable Son" like they do for Sarutobi-jiji's little grandson._' That was his only consolation. As more kids, including his many friends, were leaving with their parents, smiling happily, Naruto felt extremely out of the loop. He sat on the swing, waiting patiently as he could, for the older blond ninja that was his cousin to appear out of nowhere to surprise him and then take him out for ice cream or ramen. Then they would laugh and catch up on what the other missed out on and go home, sometimes train together or play ninja if Naruto finished his homework early.

Time was passing by and the gleam of the 3:00 pm hour's sunlight was glaring from behind Naruto and the academy. His grin had lessened every other ten minutes as time ticked on. It steadily transformed into a deep, low frown as the realization came crashing upon him. '_He's...not gonna come today either..._' He sighed sadly. Naruto had been super confident and excited, he thought today would be the day Menma came back from his really long mission. But, like the previous two days, he had been completely disappointed. Again. '_Maybe...tomorrow..._' He added glumly, lowering his head. A couple tears slid down his whiskered cheeks as he got off the swing and started his way towards the Hokage Tower.

The six-year-old only took about ten steps away from the swing when he bumped into somebody. He backed up a little mumbling a low apology to the person, went around them and kept going.

"You know, I _was_ going to take you out to ice cream but you're just being a little brat and not acknowledging me. I feel hurt, Naruto-kun."

Naruto halted in his tracks, lifted his head and spun around on his heel. "I'm not a brat—!" He was about to shout angrily until he saw who was behind him. Standing there was the object of his prior thoughts, his eleven-year-old cousin-dubbed-brother in the flesh, with his worn out jonin flack vest, hitai-ate and all. His infectious, foxy-grin on his face, the spiky, fair-colored hair still as it had been and his sharp, but gentle blue eyes on the smaller of the two.

They remained silent for a minute before the other blond spoke up again. "You know, I guess I'll go get ice cream by myself then if you just want to stay there." Naruto's demeanor flipped a complete 180 degrees and he grinned so wide his face would probably split in half if he tried harder.

"Menma-niisan!" Naruto cried happily, jumping right into the older boy with ease. He heard a small "oof" after his bodily impact but the two hadn't gone down yet. He felt the older's arms wrap around him and hold him close. "I missed you so much! You left me all alone-ttebayo!"

"I know. But ojisan assigned me to my former teacher's team, Tokuma-sensei, out on a mission. It's my job as a ninja to go out on missions, remember Naruto?"

"Yeah, but you were gone for _so_ long! I was getting super bored! I mean, it wasn't really boring because me and tou-san got to train a lot more and stuff." Naruto paused to catch his breath before rambling on again. "But you weren't here for the holidays! You missed all the presents and the cake and the festival and the fireworks! And Iruka-sensei's lectures are boring and it doesn't help that he's just an assistant teacher to one of our classes!" The little boy bantered and complained.

Menma laughed heartily at the last one. "I know I missed a lot, but when you're a ninja, there's a lot of things you have to be ready to give up in order to complete a mission. That means spending time with family and friends. And, I'm sure Iruka will get better at lecturing."

"Oh..." the smaller boy mumbled then his face twisted into a scowl. "But Iruka-sensei goes on for like forever! How did they manage to get a guy like him to teach?!"

"It's his dream, Naruto. He wanted to be an academy instructor. That's why he's there."

"But it's _so boring_!" He whined.

"All right, all right, I get it. Anyway, squirt, where'd you wanna go after I report to ojisan? Ice cream? Ramen? Maybe go pick up something else?"

Naruto's grin returned tenfold and it couldn't be any brighter than the last one. "I want ramen!"

'_Figured as much, me too. Guess our stomachs think alike, as predicted._' Menma thought but smiled. "Okay. First, let's go to the Hokage Tower so I can deliver my report to ojisan then we're off to Ramen Ichiraku's!"

"Yay!" Naruto beamed in delight. All that waiting and hoping hadn't been for nothing. Now that Menma-niisan was back, he was going to spend all his time that he possibly could with him before he probably leaves again. Gosh, he couldn't take these extended periods of time without him; they detached him from his brother-figure for too long.

As the pair of blonds trekked through the village towards the tower, which wasn't too far from the academy, many of the passing by citizens greeted the little boy with a smile. However, Naruto didn't miss the glances aimed at them. Some of the civilians were giving rather harsh, mean glares at them. His first thought was because of his and Menma's combined (and ingenious) pranks that they played on the people. But as they kept walking, the glares seemed a little too much and caused him to frown. Why did they look so...angry? He looked up to Menma and saw that he hadn't paid any attention to the glares they were getting. In fact, he seemed to ignore them, pretending they didn't exist.

People were giving him sympathizing glances but then narrowed them again. Curious, the younger boy, Naruto followed their line of sight and saw that they weren't actually glaring at the both of them. Those people were directing their glares at _Menma_. Why? Why were they looking at his cousin that way? Did he do something bad? Naruto shook his head at the thought. Menma was a ninja that only listened to his father. The shinobi were people that were respected, and yet, Menma didn't seem like he was getting that awe of respect. At least, not from the populace around him.

Despite the people's glares not aimed at him, Naruto felt as if they were. He consciously grabbed a hold of Menma's left hand and tightened. "Menma-niisan?" They were getting close to the Hokage Tower.

"Mm?"

"How come the people are giving you really mean looks?"

While they didn't stop walking immediately, Menma did pause a little bit. His blue eyes took the time to observe their surrounding area. What he saw in the people's eyes didn't really shock nor surprise him. Once upon a time, he had been sitting on that swing Naruto had been on, looking on longingly for a family he would never have. People looked at him with scorn, distaste, and hatred by the people of Konoha. Well, more than half the population hated him. They called him names, kept their children away from him, referred to him as the 'demon brat'. Now that he was able to give his younger self a chance at some form of a family, Naruto was looked at with joy in their eyes. They looked at him as he should have been properly labeled: the Yondaime Hokage's son. He was looked at for being a normal kid with, well, 'popular' parents.

The older Naruto, however, was still condemned as the demon in their midst, the one who would always receive the glares, disgust and probably would have been overcharged in prices or chased out of stores, fear of 'contaminating the goods', if he hadn't taken up his studies in the academy earlier and graduated. Had he not stepped up when he did, he'd been subjected to his old life once again. Once more, the village's pariah but just in a younger (older-ish?) body. It seemed as if his old life really hadn't gone away because the scorn of his childhood returned, but with more force. Now, they see him as a demon but probably 'manipulating the Hokage's son' into his 'nefarious schemes'. It hurt a little to see these glares again, but he'd rather take it all over again than to subject little Naruto to the pain he had once gone through.

All of this was worth it if he was protecting himself, literally, from all their anger. He told his father he could handle it and he would. He would earn their respect again.

"Menma-niisan?" Naruto's little voice snapped him out of his stupor, his small hands tugging on his jonin vest to get his attention.

"...It's nothing, Naruto-kun. I think they're just angry because we pranked them so much." Menma offered with a convincing grin. He forgot their apparent, emotionally close connection because Naruto deadpanned at the blatant lie. He may not be as smart like his friend Shikamaru, but he knew his way around the bench.

"Nii-san, I think you're lying."

Well, crap.

"Huh? I don't think so."

Naruto shook his head again. "I dunno, but like for whatever reason, I can...well feel you're lying to me. I feel like you're trying to cover up the pain, whatever it is. You don't like the mean stares the people are giving you, huh?"

Menma scratched his head and sighed exasperatedly. The kid was subconsciously tapping into their emotional connection and reading it without knowing he was doing it. "I guess there's no hiding it from my ikoto, is there? But yeah, I don't like it. But, that's all right. It's all for a good cause, I'm sure."

"But why?"

"I'm...not sure what it is though. Don't worry, Naruto-kun. I'm sure they'll go away." He tried to get the boy off the topic.

Naruto, the cute little six-year-old that he was, unfortunately didn't buy it. "Liar."

"Heeeey now, I guess I won't be getting you any ramen, then. I'll just go out by myself and leave you at home." Menma swiftly and slyly changed the subject as he walked away towards the tower. Naruto, falling for it, frowned and chased after his cousin with his indignant cries of 'not fair' and 'you can't back out on promises' and the like. Before he could fully catch up, he thought he overheard someone say, "the demon is with the Hokage's son." Huh? He stopped momentarily, wondering if he was hearing that right. It sounded close to a whisper but he heard it. Who's a demon?

"Watch out... It's the fox demon reborn..."

"Thinks its all high and mighty because it's a ninja..."

"The fucking demon... trying to poison Naruto-sama. He should be killed."

"Shh! Tone it down. There are probably ninja around listening..."

"You're right..."

"But I agree. It should have been killed on that day."

"Should have. It's tainting Yondaime-sama's son with its evil aura. The poor boy."

"Come on, let's go. There's nothing we can do about it..."

The weird conversation stopped when those civilians left. Naruto spotted a group of retreating people heading into the marketplace. They didn't seem in any hurry nor looked suspicious. In fact, those people, he remembered, would look at him with smiling faces when he passed by them. But now, they were speaking about...a fox demon? Well, if they were talking about the Kyuubi that attacked Konoha on his and nii-san's birthday, then did that mean they were referring to him? No... Their looks weren't aiming at him. They were...they were... '_They were looking directly at Menma-niisan when they were talking. Does Menma-niisan have something to do with the fox?_' Naruto wondered, feeling trepidation crawling up his spine. Was his cousin connected to the Kyuubi? His father told him about it and he learned about it in class, as with the other students.

They were taught that his father fought the rampaging demon fox and defeated it. Because of that, the Yondaime was revered as Konoha's strongest shinobi. A man who could defeat a tailed beast. But, what did this have to do with Menma? Why were those people calling him the fox? Sure, his cousin had those whisker marks on his cheeks but so did he. Was that genetic? If so, it skipped his father's generation then. '_None of this is making sense to me._' The littler blond grumbled. Maybe if he spoke to his father about this it would make sense. The man was very knowledgeable and seeing as he was the one who defeated the fox himself, he'd know more about it and perhaps why the villagers called Menma that name.

"Hey, Naruto, you coming?" the aforementioned preteen's voice snagged Naruto out of his thoughts.

"Oh! Sorry, nii-san! I'm coming! Wait up!"

* * *

Hokage Tower

3:18 pm

* * *

"Hokage-sama, Namikaze Menma has arrived."

"Good, send him in."

Minato, relieved of all the paperwork of the day, had waited patiently for the Infiltration and Reconnaissance Team to arrive. The team consisted of three, jonin-level ninja: Mitarashi Anko, a tobuketsu kunoichi, Ranka, and Hyuuga Tokuma, Team 10's former jonin sensei. He also assigned his nephew, Menma, to their team as an extra man. One couldn't be too careful of anything in the Elemental Nations. They had sent an early notice a few days ago, and had returned this afternoon to deliver the news of their investigation. Needless to say, their report ended with the team being confronted by revengeful Iwa-nin, who took one good look at Menma and linked the boy to himself. Minato had a feeling that would happen one day, but he hadn't thought it would be too soon. He was sure Iwagakure's Tsuchikage felt there were _two_ Yellow Flash's now.

Not too far from the truth, considering that he did teach Menma the alternative version of his blood limit a few months prior to promoting him to jonin rank. While waiting for Menma to come in, Minato stood away from his chair, looking outside the large window glass adjacent his desk, hands behind his back in a professional manner. It was at Training Ground 8, a few days after both of his sons' birthday passed.

-**Flashback no Jutsu**-

Monday October 14 406 NE, Last Year

"What's up, ojisan?" His nephew asked as Minato led the two of them to Training Ground 8. It was a scenic area, surrounded by a couple of trees, a sliver of a pond nearby and plenty of boulders scattered about. The tallest tree nearby shadowed a quarter of the area when the sun glowed behind it. Minato stopped walking when they were within a few seconds from the center of the training ground.

"Menma, we're alone now, you can call me 'Dad' if you want," the Yondaime smiled when he saw the boy's expression shift.

"Oh, all right. Well then, Dad. What's up? Why are we here?"

"Simple, Naruto. I want to see if you can unlock your kekkai genkai."

Naruto gave him a blank look. "Uh, what? I don't think I have one, Dad. At least, I'm sure I don't."

"I'm pretty sure you do. Naruto-kun's has begun to develop, even without his knowing. You're both the same person, are you not?"

"That's true, but..." Naruto glanced away a bit and sighed. "Remember, I'm not really _your_ son. At least, not in this time. I'm from a parallel world, one that existed because of different choices made here that didn't happen there."

Minato shook his head. "Nonsense. No matter what version of him or what world you come from, you're still _my_ son and always will be. No if's, and's, or but's, about it. Or I'll have to kick some of them if anyone disagrees with me." The partial joke lightened the mood as Naruto tried to suppress a small laugh.

"Ha, thanks. But, I'm serious. I've never felt that I had one. Sandaime-jiji never told me and I'm sure Kakashi-sensei would have told me sometime later in my life that I had one if you did. I mean, it would've showed up."

"Don't worry, I do have one and by proxy, so do you."

"Really?" Naruto tried his best not to act like a little kid about to get a ton of candy. But he was sure his eyes widened a fraction at the revelation and he couldn't help the inner child in him. "Well, what is it?" Minato grinned in a way that would have made the sun jealous.

"The Hiraishin."

Naruto's face deadpanned almost instantly.

"Dad, that's not a kekkai genkai. That was a jutsu you made up...er, well, the Nidaime made it up and you rediscovered and remade it into your liking. Like, you altered it."

"Are you sure that's what you know about it, Naruto?"

The boy crossed his arms and nodded, certainty in his eyes. "Positive. Tsunade-baachan even confirmed that in my time. She is the grandniece of Senju Tobirama after all."

Minato hummed in thought before letting out a small chuckle. "Hm, I see. Things really _are_ different between our times then."

"Well, I'm sure I could have told you that, Dad." Naruto grumbled.

"Of course you could. But, do you remember what I told you when we were...reacquainted in the hospital that day? A few weeks after the Kyuubi attack?"

"...I think so? You told me a lot of things."

Minato sweatdropped and realized that he had, in fact, spoke about numerous topics to his future son that day. Well, best to narrow it down so the boy could understand what he was getting at. "All right, that's true, I admit defeat. What I mean is when I told you I was related to Senju Tobirama." When he received silence for a few seconds then a nod, he went on, "Now, you said your world's version of me remade the Hiraishin from the Nidaime's original jutsu. That means he must have used the three-prong kunai with the seals on them."

"Yeah. Kakashi-sensei said as much from what he recalled seeing you perform it...er the other you, I mean." Naruto answered, trying not to confuse himself.

"Mm, but Senju Tobirama, an ancestor of mine, actually passed it down from marrying secretly. A popular rumor has it that he used it so many times, it actually reconstructed some of his DNA and could be transferred as a bloodlimit. While I take that as a laugh sometimes, it's actually very true." Naruto's eyes gaped open again. Whoa, stop, hold the phone! That running joke was _true_?

"Wow... I didn't... even know."

"I figured... I did sort of run through it a little too quickly that day. Even so, a fraction of the Senju-Namikaze that were produced from his line gained access to the jutsu-turned-kekkai genkai. I'm one of them and so is Naruto-kun."

"But, none of that stuff happened in my time, I'm sure! That means, the Nidaime made a different choice here and decided to marry but didn't in my time. Gah! This is super unfair! That means _I_ don't have it!" Naruto fumed like a child. Well, he was technically still in a child.

Minato coolly approached his future son, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Calm down, Naruto. Even if you don't have it naturally, you can still learn it like a jutsu. And to be honest, I would only let you or Naruto-kun have access to it because it is yours. It's a birthright, both here and there." When the younger blond stopped pouting and fuming, he looked up to his father with a look that told him he wanted to learn it. Minato couldn't be any more happier to oblige.

"Well then, what are we waiting for? I'm going to become the Second Yellow Flash!" Naruto piped up, grinning madly.

"Very well then. Before we get started, let's see how good you are with seals—without assistance from Kurama or your other 'forms', shall we?"

"Hmph. I'll get it down in no time flat! I _didn't_ make seals and excelled in fuuinjustu for nothing, after all. It's in my blood as an Uzumaki!"

-**End Flashback**-

When the door to his office opened, Minato turned to see Menma coming in, but his facial expression seemed a bit down, a little more than he liked. Something wasn't right and the Hokage had an inkling he wasn't going to like it. "Menma? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, Hokage-sama—"

"Don't gaff me off, Menma," Minato cut him off, his cerulean eyes narrowing at the young ninja, "I can tell this is personal. Call me 'ojisan', that's an order for now."

The preteen sighed but did as ordered. "Hai, ojisan. I went to pick up Naruto-kun after the debriefing of the mission an hour ago. Some thing from my past came up and I recalled it. Wasn't really good, but I assure you I'm fine. Memories, yeah? They can do that to you." Not entirely a lie. He avoided the big picture well and hoped his father didn't catch it. Apparently he did because Minato's narrowed glance lifted a little when hearing the reason why. It didn't make it that much better, but at least there was something behind the boy jonin's depressing attitude.

"...All right. If you're positive." A slow nod was his reply. Minato switched to what everyone called the 'Hokage mode' and continued. "Now, is there something you need to see me for?"

"Well, I came to inform you that aside from the mission to scout for and 'purge' remaining Iwa bases within the Land of Fire's borders, I encountered some people I know. Rather, some people I _knew_ from my own timeline." Menma's own blue eyes narrowed coldly. "They were a group of missing-nin, their leader is from Takigakure and the other three were from Amegakure [1]. They were after this special water, I forgot what it was called, and attacked Takigakure's village head's son. Sasuke and I defeated them when we were still in Team 7, but that was from then. Seeing them here, now, but wearing cloaks like that masked man had."

Minato's eyes also narrowed again. He didn't like hearing about that man who had killed his wife six years ago and would have killed his future son if he had gotten away with it. "What happened, Menma?"

"...D—Ojisan, while we were able to defend ourselves and make them flee, they mentioned that they...were coming after me. People are aiming for the Jinchuriki, again, like the Akatsuki of my time did." Menma took a deep breath; his body was shaking but not in fear. He was upset, angry even, that something similar could be happening. Again, might he add.

"**Something like it would have happened anyway, kit."** Kurama said, catching onto the thought. **"Even if it's not the Akatsuki, it looks like this new group is still aiming for the bijuu."**

'_What could they want with the bijuu though? Other than revive the Juubi..._'

"**I can only pray that's not their aim, but who the hell am I kidding? That's probably what they're after."**

'_Hm. I wonder how many of the Jinchuriki they have now? And, oh my gosh, Gaara! And, what if Killer B? The others? And that means...Obito..._'

"That's troubling news... And it makes a little sense of the other reports I've received as well." Minato finally spoke. Menma broke out of his small conversation with Kurama and observed his father. What was that? What'd he mean about the 'other reports' he received? He didn't want to ask but the nagging curiosity and dreadful feeling in his gut wouldn't allow him to stay quiet.

"What other reports, ojisan?" Menma knew he wasn't really entitled to know, but if it concerned the other bijuu and others like him, then he had to know anyway. There may be a chance he could warn the Jinchuriki of this time—if they were all within the same host as his time—and get them prepared for anything. Minato didn't say anything at first, looking out the window again to avoid eye contact with Menma. The boy deserved to know this information, even if, by rank, he wasn't allowed to know. He classified it as Hokage eyes only. Then again, technically, Menma _was_ a Hokage, the Rokudaime of his time. But, he couldn't make too many exceptions, even if he should know them.

"I'm sorry, Menma. I cannot pass the information to you, as I have it classified until they are verified. Even then, I couldn't give it to you without an official political reason, other than the fact it could be related to you."

"But!"

"Menma. Drop it." Minato's voice was cold, and instantly silenced the preteen. He didn't want to see his precious son, one of them, get antsy and try to go out there and fix everything himself. Yes, he told him he wanted to protect his family and friends of this time, using his powers and knowledge to do so. But, with everything happening so far, there have been differences, minor ones as he gauged, from their separate timelines. Minato picked up on them when he reunited with his future son in the hospital when he had been recovering from the attack, and as they learned more about each other, the parallel world's events either happened at the right time, happened at a different time, or didn't occur at all here.

Even with the faintest knowledge on the superstitious time-travel theory, Minato figured these changes happened because his son from the parallel time was forcibly drawn here and the world had to compensate in some way. It was the only thing he could think of that could be plausible. He only wished he could take up the topic to the Sandaime, but Menma didn't yet want the old man to know of his future presence. So, that left the Yondaime to his pondering.

And if that were all true, then he couldn't let his future son go out and try to alter something that was already altered. They needed to wait first and watch before reacting.

"I know this is hard for you and I understand you want to help, but right now, things are extremely different than what you knew them to be. We cannot act irrationally. If those people are after the Jinchuriki, then you'll be putting yourself in harm's way unnecessarily." Minato explained, staring at his older son with finality in his eyes. "Even with using your knowledge, it may not be enough if there are differing values at play here. I don't want you to rush off into the unknown and possibly get killed. This enemy that are hunting for the bijuu are unknown to us, even if they are repeating the same tactic as the organization from your time."

Menma's fists clenched tightly, his head lowered as he glared at the floor. Damn it, this wasn't fair. He knew his father was right. Charging head on, like he used to do—and still does on occasion—was a bad decision. While the objective appears to be the same as Akatsuki, this new group whoever they were may have a different goal. Hell, they might not even know of the Juubi or its body being sealed into the moon or anything like that. Whatever their plans for the bijuu was mystifying, and it put the Jinchuriki of this time in danger. How many of them did this new group have now? And now that he realized it, Obito, Gaara and even little Naruto, would be in danger too.

"...I know... I just... I just want to help. That's what I'm here for, too. To save this world from the inevitable, from the dangers mine had to go through in order to reach peace." Menma closed his eyes as he recalled his previous life, the danger of the Fouth Shinobi World War, all the terror, the deaths and the last battle between Team 7 and Kaguya Otsutsuki. She entrusted the chakra and peace of the world into his and Sasuke's hands. Even if he couldn't be there in his world, he would carry on that trust through this world. It made no difference; he would do it with his life. If Kaguya sensed another war, she would come back and their promise, that trust, would be broken. He couldn't let that happen. Not here, not there, not anywhere*. Not if he could help it. Feeling strong arms wrap around him and pull into a hug, Menma was abruptly shot out of his train of thoughts.

"Menma, I know you do. I know that's one of your reasons, your resolve." Minato pulled the preteen closer to him. "But, you're very important and very precious to me. You're the reason why I still have my son, why Konoha still stands. If you hadn't been dragged into the fight between myself and that Uchiha, Kushina wouldn't have sacrificed herself to save me from being killed. I wouldn't be alive and the Kyuubi would have been captured. Konoha would be laid to ruins, and Naruto would have been in the crossfire, dead before he could truly live his life." The Yondaime tightened his grip around the boy. "I made a promise to Kushina that I would look after our sons, both of them. I intend to keep it. I'm not saying you cannot help, _Naruto_. I don't want you to go out there and get yourself killed. Not before your time. That would hurt me, hurt Naruto-kun, my students, those around you that grew close to you here, and my promise to Kushina would be broken. Don't do anything rash, son. Remain calm and we'll figure out something together. Isn't that right?"

Menma, hearing his birth name in his father's voice, stiffened. He knew the older blond was serious, deathly so, and trying to get him to see his way. He saw it all right, and he didn't like waiting around. But, he remembered that if he irrationally went out there to find the crooks, they'd find him and possibly outnumber him. He could still only control version one of the Nine-Tails Chakra mode. The second version's control was under way and he could forget about the Rikudo Senjutsu mode until he was much older. Sure, he could tap into it to utilize his Yang power to heal, but that was about it. He still needed to train Team 7 into the strong shinobi he remembered, and now that these people are out there targeting the bijuu once again, he needed to set his plan to train Naruto much earlier. Having a second Nine-Tails Chakra mode user would be very beneficial and if Minato could still access his, then they'd have _three_. Not to mention, Obito, if he could use a similar state of the Gobi's, then they'd have a fighting chance.

Yes. Even if he didn't like waiting around, he wasn't simply doing _anything_. He was going to help train his former team to be the best. He was going to make Konoha _stronger_ than his Konoha. With his father as the Hokage, the regulating of training for the shinobi had intensified. Genins were following a schedule set by their jonin sensei, and in six years time, the Chunin Exams were being held in Konogakure. Yeah, that's it.

"...I'm sorry, oji—Dad. I was about to forget my other reasons for being here. You and Naru-chan are very precious to me, too. I got to experience what a family was like and I love it. I would do anything to keep you both safe, and all my friends safe, too." Menma completed the embrace and the two stayed there for a minute. "But, I'd...at least want to check on Gaara. The Ichibi's Jinchuriki in Suna. I have been sending him letters and he's been replying back—"

"Is that why I've been seeing unusual sand in the house? More specifically, being directed to your room?" Minato asked.

"Uh, haha, yeah. I also have Naruto-kun on writing him letters, too. I told him about Gaara when I went to Suna. I left out the Jinchuriki tidbit and told him I had made a friend his age and that he'd love it if he sent letters to him along with mine." the younger blond smiled as the two settled for gazing into each other's eyes. "They both seem to like it. I promised Gaara I'd introduce him to Naruto-kun. And the Chunin Exams, they'll be able to meet. But, before that, now that I know there are people after the bijuu, I want to make sure he's okay."

"I see," Minato rubbed his temple a little, pondering over what he heard. It didn't sound like a bad idea and Menma was going to check on a friend, someone he held near and dear to him in his own time. And since he's already been there once, not into the unknown, it wouldn't worry him too much. "I'll see if I can arrange it, but you'll have to be off duty when you travel there. If you need me to write a latter to the Kazekage about your appearance in Suna, I can do that."

Menma grinned in delight as he and Minato separated from their hug. "Yeah, that'll be great. Thanks, ojisan. I don't want to go now. Maybe in a week or two. Naruto-kun will get upset if I leave too soon again."

"No problem, Menma. But yes, he was a grumpy one when you were gone for the whole month last time."

"I know. I could somewhat feel his emotion that far off. It wasn't strong enough to distract me from the mission, though."

Minato was about to say something when the door opened. The pair turned from their conversation to see the Naruto standing there. "Tou-san?" The smaller blond of the three spoke and the Yondaime noticed his younger son looking at him with an expression that placed worry, concern and confusion on his small face.

"What is it, Naruto?"

"I..." he paused, trying to think of how to present his thoughts. He also saw his cousin was there and looked uncomfortable. But still, he needed to say this. It was super important to him! "I have something to say. It's... it's really important."

Minato raised an eyebrow while Menma internally grumbled. '_I think he knows something's up with me... And I have this feeling..._'

"What's wrong, son?" The Hokage felt some curiosity in his voice. Menma was trying to make himself look invisible.

"Um... Okay, well, I-I was walking with Menma-niisan today. Because he picked me up from school. Anyway, we were on our way here and I stopped because I overheard some people staring at Menma-niisan with a hard glare and called him really mean names." His matching blue eyes shifted nervously from his father to his cousin, then to the floor.

Okay, _now_ he was curious. Minato knew Menma hadn't pulled any for a while because he had been assigned a few missions outside Konoha, and when he pulled them off, they were virtually harmless. But, why were people glaring at his nephew and resorting to name calling? This was new, but then again, what if...what if...oh kami, no...

"What _kind_ of names, Naruto?" Minato hissed, hoping he wasn't scaring the boy. Before Naruto started, he stopped his son from blurting out his reply and activated the privacy seals in the office. He had a feeling this would be related to a _certain_ incident he told _certain_ people to keep to themselves. "Now then, what were you going to say?"

Naruto closed his mouth from gaping at the seals' imprints that flashed momentarily on the walls and nodded. "Oh! They called him...um I won't get in trouble if I repeat what I heard will I?"

"No you won't, Naruto. Now, please tell me."

Menma was giving him the 'don't tell him' look from behind Minato but the child didn't catch it.

"Okay. The people that I think were whispering but I heard them they called Menma, 'the fox demon reborn' and then another said he was 'tainting the Hokage's son with its evil aura.' It was scary because Menma didn't do anything to them..." Naruto said in all one go.

'_Because he can't harm civilians._' Minato thought coldly. He didn't realize he was flooding the room with his killer intent until he heard Naruto gasp, whimper and nearly fall to his knees. Menma cringed at the large amount of the intent, even if it wasn't aimed at him. Damn, when his father got angry, he really _was _pissed off. Noticing Naruto's condition, Minato instantly let up the sakki and hurried to his son's side to help him up. "I'm sorry about that, Naruto. That wasn't directed at you."

"Ha... I-I know. I thought you were kinda mad at me but then I remembered you said you weren't going to be if I repeated what I heard." The smaller blond replied, standing up as well. "But tou-san? How come you were mad? Why were the people calling Menma-niisan those mean names?"

"I'm very upset with the civilians, Naruto. As for why they called him those names, it's because I found Menma when I was fighting the Kyuubi that day. They're just angry, but I will find out why, all right?" He ruffled the boy's hair, forcing a smile and hoping Naruto would echo it.

It did something, but Naruto's face hadn't changed. "Okay, tou-san. But... Menma... It's kind of weird, but I don't think he feels happy right now." His eyes found his cousin's who simply mimicked the notion. His face was set to a deepening frown. "When I heard them call him those names, I felt... I felt like they were calling me those names... and I felt so upset and sad about it. And now, Menma-niisan feels that way, too, I think. I can... I can see it on his face."

Minato and Menma shared a look. Naruto had been describing the subconscious connection. Was it that strong already?

"Tou-san?" Naruto piped up again, breaking his father out of his thoughts.

"Yes?"

"Is...Is Menma-nii in trouble?" Naruto asked, glancing at his cousin worriedly.

"No, Naruto. He's not in trouble."

"Oh, okay."

But the Yondaime knew _who_ would soon be in trouble for leaking out classified information. He pondered two options of how to approach the situation. One, he could round up the council and flood the room until one of them gave the information he needed or admitted to the leak themselves. Or two, he could have a few trustworthy ANBU spy on all of them, as they were all prime suspects. Weighing on both selections, Minato leaned towards the second. He really didn't want to summon the council because they'd give him a future headache and more. Plus, there was a mischievous little voice in the back of his head, probably the remnants of Kurama's, telling him it would be more fun to find out via his spies and then corner the person with said information and then send them on a trip to T&amp;I.

Yes. He would definitely go for option two.

"Don't worry, Naruto. I'll investigate this matter. _Personally_." Minato assured his son and held back the most terrifying grin he could ever produce. He didn't want to accidentally scare his boy. His two sons eyed one another before the older excused them to take the younger out for ramen as he promised.

* * *

Tuesday, Feburary 2 407 NE

Unknown Location

* * *

"Any information on the Kyuubi?"

"Hai. Suien and his team had followed the Kyuubi's signature, tracing it towards the Land of Fire's borders. It seemed he and a Konoha team had been assigned a month-long mission to eradicate any Iwa bases within the land. But there were complications when the team attempted to engage the Jinchuriki..."

"How so?"

The second seemed to pause for a moment before continuing. "Sir, while he may be a boy, he is...strong. Very strong. When they attempted to catch them off guard, he sensed their presence before they were close enough to be normally detected. He fended them off before they could truly engage him and his companions. Suien and his team had to retreat to prevent casualties. We...we may have to push our plans for obtaining the Kyuubi later when we can surround and trap him alone."

"I see," the first hummed in thought, though if heard closely, the voice had a hint of irritation and disappointment to it. "And the other bijuu?"

"The Hachibi has been obtained [2] however the Ichibi is becoming more guarded than normal. We had an attack against the child, but Sand ANBU had intervened and we had to retreat. When we arrived, the Kyuubi container had also been there. It appears he is protecting the Ichibi. Also, the Rokubi remains missing."

"That is irksome. The captured ones, Nibi, Sanbi, Yonbi, and the Nanabi are all correctly detained?"

"Yes sir."

"...Hm. We have the specific amount, however, I want all of them captured and brought to me. All extractions must be done all at once. Then, we can revive the Gedo Mazo and use it." the first explained and shook their head. "There's something I must do first. A little visit to my former village."

"Sir, do you mean to enact your plan on Konoha's Uchiha clan? [3]"

"Precisely. I already have...an accomplice there. He will serve me just fine when the time comes. If I cannot destroy Konoha from the outside, then I will simply crush it from the _inside_."

* * *

Time-skip: Five Years Later

Wednesday, April 27 413 NE

1:10 pm

* * *

"All right, class. You've all become successful genin and no longer students of my class," Iruka said as he looked at all the preteens in his classroom. "But no matter what, you'll still be my students, and I am proud of you all. May you carry on the Will of Fire as you begin your lives as shinobi and kunoichi." All eyes were on him, staring intently. Some of them were smiling, some had a thin line for their face and others were half paying attention because they were either too excited or didn't care. "You will be assigned a new jonin sensei and grouped into a three-man cell, a team." Iruka pulled out a scroll and began reading from it, starting at Team 1.

Naruto grinned as he couldn't keep the excitement out of his system. The graduation ceremony was fantastic and his father, his students and Menma had been there to congratulate him and his class. They even had ramen together afterward! Then last night, his cousin told him there would be a surprise when they were assigned teams. The preteen blond couldn't wait for it! What could it be?!

"Team 7," Iruka started, his brown eyes scanning the words, a wide grin on his face as he saw the name of their jonin sensei. '_Aha, you were waiting for this, weren't you..?_' "Team 7 will consist of Haruno Sakura, Namikaze Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke under the jonin sensei, Namikaze Menma."

Sasuke hn'd.

Sakura was cheering because she was in a team with Sasuke and didn't mind having the Hokage's son with her.

Naruto's eyes widened then he whooped in delight.

The other students looked at the three with confused looks, more so at Naruto's exclamation. Many of them didn't know about the relationship between Naruto and this Menma person, but if they had to guess, they were related or something. Well, if the last names were anything but a given. But, why so excited?

"Team 8 will consist of Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba and Hyuuga Hinata. Your jonin sensei is Uchiha Obito."

The three students that were called looked attentive as well as Sasuke. His cousin was assigned a team? No wonder the idiot, as he labeled his carefree relative, had been secretive as of late. '_I wonder why he wasn't assigned to my team?_' the younger Uchiha thought. He still needed training to activate his Sharingan, to get stronger. He was one of the only surviving Uchiha left in Konoha that could help him achieve his goal. Everyone else couldn't help because they were...dead. Gone. They had been all killed [4]. That night still haunted him, but he needed power, enough power to kill _him_. That man that ruined his life, crushed it into tiny pieces and tossed them aside as if they were nothing. He would never forget, and he'd be damned if he did. As the other teams were called off and done, Iruka told them to train hard and listen to their sensei as they were a guiding light and pillar of strength in the shinobi life. The brunet left the classroom and once he was gone, everyone exploded into chatters and gossip. Naruto smiled and bounded his way towards Sasuke.

"Hey Sasuke! Looks like we're on the same team!" the blond grinned widely.

"...Hn, yes. We are." The Uchiha replied. While Sasuke was a brooding, emo preteen with issues, he never forgot his relationship with Naruto. He was his personal pillar to cling to when his clan had been massacred, leaving him and a few others, who had been lucky enough to survive, alone.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura also invited herself towards them, grinning wide. She frowned a little when she saw Naruto but didn't say much. The boy was really hyperactive and seemed dumb, but he pulled off successful marks on his tests and the jutsu they were taught. He also made a habit of rambling off about his 'nii-san' and why he was one of the coolest ninjas in the village aside from his father. Unfortunately for her, the boy she admired and had a crush on didn't really acknowledge her and just remained silent. Surprisingly enough, Naruto didn't say anything else after he greeted the Uchiha, either.

A few minutes later, a jonin arrived to pick up their team and left. A couple others came and went, leaving only a few teams there. The three also saw the Sandaime's son, Sarutobi Asuma, pick up the Ino-Shika-Cho combination of this generation and leave with them. The older man seemed a lot more relaxed than when Naruto had last seen him. His father did mention that the Old Man and his son needed to talk about their disagreements, whatever those were. The Hokage's son didn't pry any further because it wasn't any of his business.

It was 1:32 pm when the classroom door opened and casually stepping in was...

"Menma-niisan!" Naruto exclaimed happily, seeing the teenager he knew for his entire life coming in. Sasuke saw the older blond, recognizing him easily and Sakura remembering him from somewhere. Unknown to them, Menma's teenaged appearance looked almost exactly like his own when he reached that age the first time. Just, of course, not that much orange in his attire. Deep down, he'd never get rid of it. Orange was his favorite color and reminded him of his parentage.

"Hello Naruto. Anyway, Team 7, Haruno Sakura, Namikaze Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke, come with me you three." Menma said as he stepped outside the room as coolly as he came. The three preteens by name stood/sat up from where they had been and hurried out to meet the older. When they stepped outside the room and into the hallway, Menma was standing there, waiting for them. "Take my hand, we're going somewhere else." He said, holding out both hands. Sasuke took one, Sakura took the other and Naruto, as Menma half predicted, jumped onto his back. Sighing, the older blond felt for the seal he needed and used the Hiraishin to bring his new team to Training Ground 8, the same one his father brought him to when teaching him the very technique he used.

The kids were a bit dizzy after it, except Naruto, whose life nearly revolved around it, but after a few moments, they were all right.

"Sorry about that. I keep forgetting not everybody is used to the space-time jutsu." Menma apologized as he released their hands and dumped his cousin off his back. Said boy scowled at that but stood up anyhow. "Anyway, as you know already, I'm your jonin sensei for Team 7. Why don't we get to know one another first? Likes, dislikes, hobbies and dreams? You know, before I get into details about your genin exam for tomorrow."

"Huh? Genin exam? But, sensei, we already took it!" Sakura shouted out, her two teammates agreeing with her.

"Uh, uh, uh," Menma waggled a finger at them, tsking. "You took an exam that separates who is capable of becoming a ninja and who isn't, depending on who passed and who didn't." He clarified simply, grinning when he saw the looks on their faces. "So, where were we? Oh yeah, introduce yourselves!"

"Hey, nii-san, can't you go first?" Naruto asked.

'_Saw this coming..._' He thought, before relenting. "Fine. My name is Namikaze Menma, sixteen years old. My likes include my family, friends and protecting Konoha. I also like to train and take care of the couple of plants I have at my apartment and uncle's house. My dislikes, people who hurt my family and friends or those who don't like me for whatever invalid reason they have. Hobbies? Hm, probably go with the training and gardening when I have time for the latter. Dreams? Well, I want to unite the Five Great Shinobi Countries and Nations under one banner. To stop all the warring and senseless fighting." He finished, watching their studious—at least he thought they were—looks. "All right then, let's start with you, Uchiha-san."

"Hn. My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I don't have many likes, but I suppose the remainder of my family counts and...my friend," he side glanced at Naruto, who is still beaming. Though, the blond caught the glance and met it, almost as if assuring the dark-haired boy he was with him. "I don't have many dislikes or hobbies but training to become stronger is a goal of mine. My dream... my ambition, is to obtain as much power as I can and kill a certain _man_ for what he's done to my clan and restore it to its former glory."

'_Sasuke, even though your goals are similar from my time, I'll help you and dissuade you from going rogue. You have Naruto this time to lean on and a couple others of your family with you, but I won't take any chances._' Menma thought before turning to Naruto. "All right, you're next Namikaze-san."

"Eh, just call me by my first name, nii-san!"

The older blond sighed. "This is supposed to be a show of professionalism. It's proper to address an unknown person or student of yours by their last name first along with the correct honorific."

"Yeah, but you know me already!"

"Then I suppose we can skip your introduction and move on."

"NO! I'll do it! Don't skip me!" Naruto panicked and cleared his throat. "My name is Namikaze Naruto! I like ramen and my family, who are Menma-nii and my tou-san, the Hokage! And Sasuke and all my friends! I dislike how long it takes to heat up ramen sometimes and vegetables because they're gross. I also don't like it when the people call me 'Naruto-sama', it just sounds too formal. My hobbies are gardening sometimes and training with Menma-nii and my tou-san and pranking the villagers, too! My dream is to become the Hokage-ttebayo! Maybe I'll be the sixth after Obito-nii is the fifth!" Naruto exclaimed with a wide, foxy grin. Menma chuckled, noticing the similarities between his first introduction and Naruto's.

"Okay then. Now it's your turn, Haruno-san."

Sakura blushed a little in embarrassment but nodded. "My name is Haruno Sakura and I like..." Her green eyes traveled towards Sasuke, who wasn't giving her any attention whatsoever. The stoic Uchiha already knew who she was looking at and internally groaned. Why, why did a fangirl have to be assigned on the same team as him?

"Me." Sasuke said with a sigh. Sakura giggled like the fangirl she was and kept going.

"My dream is to marry..." She looked at Sasuke again, giggling once more. Naruto snorted and Menma just raised an eyebrow.

"Me again. And her hobbies include watching me train and stalking me, too." The Uchiha boy said in an unamused, deadpanned voice.

"And I hate Ino-pig and anyone who badmouths Sasuke-kun!" the pink-haired kunoichi-to-be suddenly shouted angrily, scaring the nearby birds off their perches. Naruto backed away from her and Sasuke remained impassive as always. Menma and by proxy, Kurama, rubbed his ears. Sheesh, her screeching voice didn't seem to change either.

'_All right, it looks like everyone's technically still the same as before. I'm hyperactive, Sasuke's still a brooding teme and Sakura is still the fangirl. But at least she doesn't hate me—er Naruto, and Sasuke has him as a friend. So... Not _too _bad this time around._' "Okay then, all of those are...good enough. So, take these," Menma unsealed three sheets of paper from a modified storage seal on his right wrist and handed it to the trio. "There are some rules and layouts you need to follow and remember. Said layout is basically a mini map of the village. Where we're currently located, it says 'TR-8', which is the abbreviation of this area here." He pointed out the location, watching his students examine it as well.

"Find your house and trace the path from here to there. I expect you all to remember your surroundings for future training sessions, and no Naruto, you cannot use Hiraishin to get here, put your hand down."

The aforesaid boy put his hand down and grumbled something under his breath that suspiciously sounded like 'traitorous cousins.' Menma pretended not to hear that and continued on with his explanation. "This Training Ground 8 is our training ground from here on out, unless it gets demolished by said training. I want you all to meet me here at 6:30 am sharp tomorrow morning. When you go home tonight, don't waste your time in staying up all night. Eat and go to bed early. Whatever time you wake up tomorrow is up to you but I expect you to be here _before_ 6:30 am."

"But, that's too early!" Naruto groaned a loud. Sakura and Sasuke also nodded in agreement. Why so early?!

"You need to understand," Menma began, staring at the preteens intently, his blue eyes upon them like a menacing, ocean's wave, "As shinobi, waking up early and arriving on time on a mission is crucial. If you're late, you may miss the debriefing that your leaders give out and be out of the loop. You might also cost a teammate's life for not arriving on time. This is serious, you three. Treat this like a mission and get here at the specified time. Your genin examination is tomorrow. I advise you all to eat an hour earlier in the morning and stretch your muscles to prepare."

"Aww, I wish you could wake me up on time..." Naruto frowned.

"There's a reason why I moved out of the house, Naruto. One of them was to avoid being seen as favoring one student over the others." The older blond replied, noticing the boy's expression. Turning to the other two, he gave a fresh smile, "So, can you two be on time tomorrow?"

"Hai, sensei. I-I will be here."

"Hn."

"I'll take that last answer as a 'yes.' Well, Naruto?"

"Mm...yeah I'll be here."

Menma smiled again, hearing his students' reply. "Great. I'll hold it to you three. Now, you're dismissed for the day. Take time to prepare yourselves because the test won't be easy." With that, their jonin sensei shunshin'd out of the training ground, leaving the three to themselves. It was silent for awhile before Sakura spoke up.

"So, he's your brother, Naruto?"

"Nah. He's my cousin, er I think once removed? He's my tou-san's nephew, so yeah. I just call him 'nii-san' because I look up to him like one. And it feels like he's one, too."

"Oh."

"...Family is family. We should all...keep them close." Sasuke said a bit cryptically.

"Yeah. Hey, Sasuke, Sakura-chan, do you two wanna get some ramen with me? I haven't eaten at Ramen Ichiraku's for a while since my tou-san started cutting my allowance for spending so much there in one setting last year." The brooding Uchiha considered the idea before simply nodding. As with all fangirls following their 'celebrities', Sakura decided to come with. Naruto grinned and led the way, whilst remembering to follow the map he was given by his cousin. Along the way, he was entertaining the two with why ramen was the best thing ever and how he couldn't wait to get some.

* * *

Two hours later, back at the academy...

* * *

"Where the _hell_ is our sensei!?" Kiba yelled, getting irritated. Akamaru barked his frustration as well.

"I-I-I'm s-s-s-sure their o-o-on th-their wa-wa-way..." Hinata stammered bashfully, twiddling her fingers together.

Shino, for the lack of everything that was emotion, remained silent. In fact, he dotted. "..."

"What? I couldn't understand you, Shino. You need to speak up!" the Inuzuka boy frowned. Honestly, translating the mysterious language that was Shino's dots was annoying and becoming a chore. The only one who could translate them was another Aburame or, for whatever reason, that Uchiha kid, Sasuke. "But really. Who takes TWO freaking hours to get here?! Like, where is he now!? I swear if he doesn't come in the next two minutes... Man, who chose this guy to be a sensei?!"

"...It would most likely be the Hokage who selected this person as our sensei." Shino said, but his voice was barely above a whisper. Thanks to his good hearing, Kiba heard it.

"Then the Hokage needs to like get a new guy! This one is like super late and annoying!"

As soon as he shouted those words, the classroom door slid open, revealing a man in his mid-twenties with short, spiky black hair, orange-tinted lens for goggles over his Konoha hitai-ate, the jonin flack vest over his short-sleeved black shirt. His shinobi pants matched his shirt as his sandals matched the navy blue headband that the hitai-ate was stitched to. The man also had black, half gloves, fair skin and dark eyes of the Uchiha clan. Pretty much, he looked like Sasuke, only much older and less broody.

"Hey, you three in Team 8?"

"YOU'RE LATE!" Kiba snarled, his ninken barking the same response in anger as well. Shino stared from behind his shades and Hinata watched the scene unfold before her eyes. "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? YOU'RE LIKE, SUPER LATE!" If the Inuzuka boy had been any closer, he would have yelled the poor jonin's ears off.

The man, Uchiha Obito, laughed nervously. "Aahh, right, you see, there was a man with a cart of watermelons in the middle of the street. I accidentally bumped into his cart and all the watermelons tumbled out, causing a watermelon stampede and—"

"LIAR!" Kiba roared in accusation.

Obito sighed. He literally had that lie up and going but it seemed that the kids these days could still detect them anyway. '_I tried. I need to come up with new stories..._'

"**Ne, that you do, Lil Colt. But...you should stop being late. It's not professional nor is it good. You'll just anger the smaller colts that way."**

'_Yeah, yeah I know._' "Anyway, you three, come with me to the roof. I'll be waiting so don't be late." Obito shunshin'd away. However, just as he did, he heard the Inuzuka boy shout out, "YOU HYPOCRITE!" '_My life can't be simple, can it? Why, oh, why did sensei assign me to be a sensei!? This is already torturous! What does he scheme in that office of his anyway?_' Obito groaned to himself. If only Kakashi was a sensei alongside him or something...

* * *

Next Day

Thursday, April 28 413 NE

6:12 am

* * *

Team 7's members literally dragged themselves to the Training Ground 8. All three were tired, having woken up an hour earlier to get ready, stretch and eat as they were told. Sasuke had, ironically, Obito waking him up early to get ready this morning, even though he set his alarm. The older Uchiha even had breakfast ready which was a surprise for the younger. Sakura set hers last night and got up at 5:00 am when it buzzed. Naruto, wasn't so lucky. He did set his and even told his dad to wake him before he went to work. Of course, Minato wanted to help his son, but decided the boy would learn his lesson about being on time and didn't. For some reason, Naruto thought he heard some deep voice from somewhere yell at him to wake up. [5] He didn't know where it came from, but it got him going.

"I'm so tired..." Naruto grumbled as he yawned.

"...hn..." Sasuke grunted.

"I want to go back to sleep..." Sakura also yawned.

The three soon-to-be genin found some place to wait for their sensei. Sasuke leaned against a tree, Sakura nearby and Naruto upon the ground, face up. They all had one thought going through their minds: 'Why so early? Not even the sun is up! This is ridiculous!' Not even another minute passes before they hear a somebody call to them.

"Good morning, Team 7. Good to see you all here and on time." Menma's voice said from somewhere.

"S-Sensei?" Sakura got up and wondered where it came from. The boys also jolted awake from their semi-sleep, looking around. When nothing else happened, the girl frowned. "I could have sworn I heard his voice. Maybe I imagined it." '_Is he trying to scare us?_'

"No. I heard it, too." Sasuke said, rubbing his eyes from leftover sleep out of his eyes. '_Where is he? If only I can detect him..._'

Naruto sighed heavily, dusting himself off sloppily. "Okay, nii-san, stop hiding and come out." '_And why does it feel weird that I...know where he is but don't at the same time?_'

Almost instantly, a whirlwind of lightning appeared before them and standing there was their sixteen-year-old sensei, smiling. "Mm, you all sort of get the morning test a little bit. Hearing my voice even though it wasn't that loud and knowing I was hiding." They slightly deadpanned and bitter from the sleep they were losing. "All right, don't get any ideas of throwing tempers. We still have a test for you three to take. But before that, let's stretch!"

The three preteens grumbled unintelligibly.

"Come on, the more time you waste, the less time you have for the test. Spread out and let's start with a hundred push-ups!" He wasn't going to drill them that hard like Maito Gai does, but he would get them kick-started in his _own _training schedule, courtesy of Kurama's ingeniousness. Of course, they'll never know of the sadistic fox's involvement of this 'torture training'. As his team got started on their push-ups, Menma grinned evilly and said, "And after that, I want you to do a hundred sit-ups and then run around the training ground to give me ten laps!"

"But nii-san!"

"You will address me as Menma-sensei from now on. If keep whining and you'll be doing fifty more push-ups and sit-ups and I'll add an extra ten laps."

"Bu—!"

"Naruto, you baka, shut up!" Sakura growled, trying to get the blond to shush. The Hokage's son sighed sadly and shut up. He was used to the training regimen his cousin set up for him, but the early morning rise was making him cranky. Not to mention, he felt he didn't eat to his fill with breakfast.

Menma smirked as he watched them work. Of course, he wasn't going to sit around and just watch like Kakashi-sensei did for his team. The older blond also got down and did his usual stretches and warm-up workout, adding an extra hundred to his normal count. He applied chakra to the weight seals on his wrists, ankles and legs to increase the weight from yesterday. He would set to applying those to his team when they were ready, and if they passed. He had no doubt they would though.

After ten minutes, Menma was finished with his exercise, but his team were still working on the sit-ups now.

"**Heh, they're motivated. More so than when you and your team were."**

'_I know because I'm pushing them to their limits._' A cruel grin shone on his face but it was quickly hidden with an impassive expression when he thought the kids were looking at him. '_By the way, nice plan set up, Kurama. Having them do a hundred push-ups and sit-ups, increase it by ten everyday and running ten laps, also increasing that by ten more as the days go by. I knew your sadism would rub off on me someday._'

"**No problem. I wanted my own share of shaping up these kits. Wait until you hear the plan I have when they begin their D-ranks."**

'_Ah, you're making me tremble with curiousity! Do tell when this over with._'

"**I will, I will."**

"Ugh...M-Menma-sensei? W-we're done with the push-ups and sit-ups l-like you said..." Sakura groaned and panted, feeling exhausted. Her two teammates weren't any better, even Naruto. He looked ready to collapse. For some reason, doing exercises in the morning made him feel heavier. Sasuke tried his best to ignore his exhaustion but it was clear as day that the young Uchiha was panting from the wake-up call of an exercise. All in all, they were still bitter. Menma, not missing a beat, stared at them.

"Good, now you still have to give me ten laps around the training ground." The three looked at him as if he had grown three heads and a tail. Well, he could probably do the tail but not the heads, but that wasn't important. "Well, what are you waiting for? The sky to fall? Get to it."

"Aww, but my arms and legs hurt!" the pink-haired girl was the one that whined this time.

"Keep it up and I'll add thirty more instead of ten. Now give me twenty laps!"

"But—!"

"Sakura-chan, stop it before he really makes us down thirty more!" Naruto scolded and started running, trying to wake up his legs. Sasuke glared hatred at their sensei and followed after Naruto. Sakura grumbled but staggered off to join them. Menma ignored the glare he received and just grinned. He knew Sasuke was angry at him, added to the fact they were sore from the warm-ups and still tired, that created one cranky team. To his research, a cranky bunch of kids were more respondent than kids who were fully awake. Laughing to himself in his mind, Kurama joining him, this was going to be so much fun.

'_And the best part has yet to come._'

One hour later

7:23 am

Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke were panting heavier than earlier, all exhausted and sore from the warm-ups and their run. Menma had watched them with his hawk-like, or rather fox-like, vision, making sure they were actually _running_ and not power-walking or pacing themselves. When their twenty laps were over with, Menma approached them and smiled. "Good, now your muscles are all awake and ready to go. Don't you all feel better now?"

"NO!" Naruto and Sakura shouted in unison. All three of them glared daggers at their sensei, unintentionally releasing their killing intent at him. Said sensei was unaffected by the glares and sakki and simply waved it off as if it were a pesky fly.

"Anyway, don't stand there like that and wheeze your breath away. Flex your arms and legs to keep them going. Bending over to catch your breath after a long run isn't good for you." Menma advised, unsealing three canteens full of water from a pocket on his vest. "Here, take one each. Drink slowly, don't gulp the whole thing down." All three took a water canteen and did as told, surprisingly. Menma didn't think they'd listen that easily. '_Wonder why. Hm, maybe it's because of my age? I'm closer to it than the other jonin, well, physically at least, so perhaps... I'll think on that later._' "All right, since you all have listened so far, take a five minute break. After that, we'll start the test. Use this time sparingly." The teenager shunshin'd away, leaving Team 7's almost-genins by themselves once more.

"Naruto, your cousin is a sadist. How could he do that to us?" Sakura pouted and still very bitter about the whole exercise.

"I know he is. Looks awesome but he trains super hard. I've seen him train all day once and it was really dedicated. Even my dad, too. I'm sorta used to it but he's probably pushing us." Naruto replied, sipping some of his water afterward.

"As much as I hate to admit that I feel sore, I feel he's...making us work. Like a teacher is supposed to do." Sasuke added then thought, '_My father never really paid much attention to me when we trained. When we did, it seemed so half-assed, like he didn't give a damn. But maybe, this training is what I need. To push myself to my absolute limits and not dawdle around. Yes, this is for me. Menma can help me achieve my goal. He is the best out of the others, and Naruto's cousin. He won't mess around with our training, I'm sure of it._'

Sakura tilted her head as she stared at her crush. He seemed to be in deep thought about something. '_I wonder what Sasuke-kun is thinking about?_'

'_I wish I could go back to sleep._' Naruto complained silently.

The next few minutes swept by them and their sensei came back with four bento box lunches and chakra paper. Huh? He set the boxes down a few feet away from the team, then took out an ink brush and sealing paper. The older blond swiftly but delicately drew an intricate sign on the paper, then pressed his hand against it. A green light briefly flashed underneath his palm then faded away. Next, he spread the lunches apart, forming a diamond shape with them. He placed his hand in the center of them and said, "Seal!" A small barrier of green light formed around the lunches, making it nigh impossible to get to them.

"Hey, nii-s—" Naruto started but a swift glare from their teenaged sensei stopped him from finishing the name and he corrected himself quickly, "I mean Menma-sensei, what are you doing?"

"Well, I placed an impassible barrier around your lunch," Menma chuckled, watching his students' eyes widen. "It's apart of your test. If you're all rested up, I'll give you the rundown of what you need to do in order to get your prize." The three genins-to-be put their water canteens to the side and stood up straighter. "The test is simple; you three against me. You have been given a mission from the Hokage to retrieve the stolen parcels from the enemy-nin, which is me. Do whatever it takes to contain me but you _must_ come after me with the intent to kill and recover the parcels in one piece. However," he showed them his left hand, where the seal marker's symbol glowed the same green as the barrier, "if you attack me when my left hand is open palm and hit the seal marker, the parcels inside the barrier will explode and you'll fail your mission. Which means, you'll fail my test. You only have one chance at this and if you fail to detain me within an hour and a half, you'll also fail." He smirked as he saw their faces gaped in horror in their own way.

"You may use any jutsu or trap against me. Really, go all out with everything you got because _I_ won't be holding back." They visibly paled, making him snicker sinisterly to himself. "Now then," Menma walked over and placed an alarm clock next to the barrier, setting the timer on it. "Begin!" And with that, the three sprinted off to hide. Menma took a few steps away from the 'parcels' and waited for them to come out and attack. '_This might take some time. I'll give them a few minutes before I go hunt them. Ahh, I'm starting to sound like a prowling Kurama, damn._'

"**You say it like it's a bad thing."**

'_No, not really._'

"**Hm, I wonder what the kits are up to."**

'_Hopefully they come up with some brilliant strategy or something._'

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto's voice broke them out of their budding conversation. Menma just smiled wide when he saw a thousand Naruto clones surrounding him. All the Naruto's were glaring at him, having kunai or shuriken in their hands.

"**How nostalgic. This 'brilliant strategy' of theirs reminds me of ****_someone_**** I know."**

'_Shut it, fox._'

"ATTACK!" One of the Naruto's shouted and the herd was unleashed as they roared, battle cries and all. Menma sighed as he prepared to slaughter the bunshins one by one. Many fell to his simple kicks and punches and for the hell of it, he smacked some aside using a couple wind jutsu to sweep them away. In only a few seconds, the massive Naruto clone army was reduced from one thousand to a mere fifteen. "How'd he do that?!" One of the clones whined.

"Obviously, he's waaay faster than us."

"Shut up, we know that!"

"You done yet, Naruto-chan?" Menma asked, playing a taunt on his cousin. The smaller blond clones growled at the nickname and got ready to go again.

"Not even close!" They shouted and charged forward. Some threw their kunai. Some threw their shuriken, multiplying it with a jutsu and some just threw their fists and engaged in a taijutsu match against the older blond. Menma easily evaded the throw projectiles and either blocked or dodged all the fifteen Naruto's erratic taijutsu strikes. Well, if he was being honest with himself, he technically taught the kid how to fight like him, so he would be making fun of himself. Oh well.

"You think you can take on a jonin-level enemy by yourself, Naruto?" Menma taunted again, using the Kawarimi to replace himself with one of the clones and the others hitting that one in his place, making it pop.

"Ugh, we can take you on! There's more of me and only one of you!"

"Oh really?"

"...Yeah?"

Menma chuckled. "Then let's even it up, huh?" The Naruto's watched anxiously as they saw their cousin use the familiar hand seal. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" And like so, thirteen more Menma's appeared in a puff of smoke. All fourteen Naruto's paled when they saw the fourteen Menma's. All they had in mind was one word that summoned up their situation.

Fuck.

Hiding and waiting in the bushes were Sasuke and Sakura, who began paling when they saw the thirteen Menma clones pound the crap out of the Naruto clones, making them dispel abruptly, then they went and knocked out the real Naruto. Thanks to their blond companion, the test became even _harder_ than before! "Damn it..." The Uchiha hissed under his breath. Now they had to deal with those clones first before the original, who were probably just as strong _as_ their original. Well, shit has clearly hit the fan for Team 7.

"Sasuke-kun, h-how are you going to get passed all of those Menma-sensei?" Sakura asked, fear evident in her voice. The dark-haired boy remained eerily silent, namely because he didn't know how they were going to do it. How could they do it? With Naruto knocked out of the playing field, it was only them two and really, what could they do? Just as a tear of sweat drooled down his pale-skinned cheek, the Menma clones dispelled, two at a time, until the real one was the only one there. Okay, good.

"Sakura," he whispered to the panicking girl, "calm down and listen. I'll distract him with a jutsu and you try to bind him with this. Do you have anything that can tie his wrists together?" Snapping out of her shakiness, Sakura nodded.

"I...it's a jutsu that Naruto showed me once. He said he uses it for pranks sometimes and that Menma-sensei taught him." Observing her, the Uchiha boy nodded.

"All right, let's go. While you're binding him, I'll try and move Naruto out of the way so he doesn't get hit."

"Why would you save that baka anyway? He got what he deserved, Sasuke-kun. Charging head long into the fight like that."

The raven-haired preteen caught her in one of his glares, the dark pools boring straight into her green ones. "Don't. Don't ever say or think of that again. Or I will leave you here by yourself. Are we clear?" He hissed, making the girl flinch back. He took a deep breath, inhale and exhaled, and looked at her again. "Good. Now, come on." With the hopefully successful plan at hand, Sasuke rushed out of his hiding spot and charged at their sensei.

Flashing through the hand seals he was taught by his cousin as a rite of passage from his clan, Sasuke channeled the necessary chakra and then, "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" Out of his mouth came a large, roaring flame in the shape of a huge sphere, bigger than a two story house in Konoha. Menma turned around to see the technique heading his way and flashed through his own seals.

"Suiton: Mizu Tatsumaki! [6]"

A vortex of water appeared in between Menma and the great fireball jutsu. It acted as both a protective and offensive barrier for the teenaged jonin. When the two technique's clashed, steam was created, casting all into its embrace until the notable explosion occurred. Menma remained in one place, using his senses to pick up the signs of his students. '_Let's see, Sasuke left as soon as the attack hit and now he's moving... to the right and going towards Naruto. Now he's picked up Naruto and moving him out of the way. Hm, good. Where's Sakura... Ah there she is. Right behind me._'

"Wire Bind! [7]" the girl channeled her chakra and out came white lines—wires—which wrapped around Menma and bound him. The blond-haired jonin remained where he was as Sakura smirked in satisfaction. "Sasuke! I have him! I got him!" She called out happily.

"Or, did you?" Menma's voice creepily sounded behind her. The girl screamed as she turned to face him but was put out with a well placed chop to her neck. The 'Menma' she had tied up popped, turning out to be a simply shadow clone. Menma suppressed a chuckle when he saw Sakura's terrified face before knocking her out. Wait, why was he chuckling in the first place? '_Dang it, fox. You're turning me into a human version of your sadism._'

"**And who's fault is that for 'hanging out' with the most shrewd of all bijuu? Because really, I have ****_no_**** idea what you're talking about~"** Kurama hummed in a sing-song voice, clearly mocking his host. Menma eye twitched at the bijuu's antics and decided to ignore him. He set to clearing the steam-like smog with a simple wind jutsu. When it cleared, his blue eyes spotted the only, remaining team member left, having Naruto's arm slung over his shoulder as he tried to move the younger blond from harm's way.

'_Looks like we have a winner of the survival of the fittest here. Or rather, survival of the loudest, since he was the only quiet one. As usual._'

Sasuke noticed the steam had been blown away and his cover, well, blown. Literally. He grunted as he kept his arm around Naruto's body, trying to heave the boy away from the fight. When it cleared up, he saw Sakura on the ground near their sensei, also knocked out, with the teenager smirking at him as if he were some new toy he received in the mail. '_Damn it!_' He hissed to himself. He was sorely outnumbered. Not by numbers, oh no. He was outnumbered because he knew his sensei was several times stronger than he was. Hell, even if he and his teammates had worked together they could have taken him—

Wait a minute.

'_Menma...sensei is really strong. We can't take him one by one, or we fall flat as flies. They tried individually, but he took down two of them with ease. But... but... _together _is it possible?_' Sasuke lifted his head to see the teenager still standing there, still smirking. Apparently, he saw the recognition of his understanding in his eyes and the smirk was replaced with a genuine smile. Yes! That had to be it! '_Why didn't we think of this before?_' The Uchiha scowled. Normally, it was his pride that stopped him from working together. He tried it with Sakura and it ended up in a failure. No. If Naruto hadn't charged like the knuckle-head he was, then they could have performed that plan with ease using his Shadow clones as another form of distraction.

But, because it didn't work out that way, the task was lost. According to their last sensei, Iruka, if on a mission and one or two of the team's members fall in battle, the mission is a failure and retreat must be utilized. Sasuke frowned as he recalled it. He'd never _ever_ back down from a fight or mission, even if things were looking rough. He would fight to the end, but this opponent, Menma-sensei, was just too strong. The mission was to obtain the parcels safely and capture him. But if that can't be done because his two teammates were incapcitated, there was nothing he could do.

He had to retreat.

"Menma-sensei... We must retreat." He didn't know why he was telling him for. He was supposed to be the enemy!

Menma waited for a moment, studying his Uchiha student before grinning wide. "Are you sure you want to retreat? Or do you want to keep fighting, knowing you have the strength to keep going?"

Sasuke pondered the words before shaking his head. "I'm not stupid. The mission was a fail when Naruto stupidly charged at you and got himself knocked out. I'm sure in a real situation he would have... he would have... died." The older blond nodded at his reply and sat down beside the timer. It buzzed loudly, signifying the end of the exam. Sasuke sighed. They failed and now they wouldn't progress any further.

"It's surprising that you remembered what you learned in the heat of a battle but Sasuke, you made the right choice in deciding to retreat." The boy by name blinked as his sensei continued. "When a mission is deemed a failure, the most important thing is to ensure your teammates are safe while you retreat from the scene of the battle or location. The objective could be redone again but a teammate's life cannot. You would risk yourself the fail of a mission to keep your comrades safe; that's a very noble thing to do in the shinobi world. You may not have realized it yet, but that's what you just showed me." Menma shut the timer off and rewound it.

"I'll let Sakura and Naruto recover and give you three another chance to come at me. In the meantime, use this time to rest. I'll give you and them ten minutes the most." Once again, the older blond used shunshin to leave the area, allowing his students to get up and rethink their plan. Next time, they may or may not be so lucky.

* * *

**AN:** And there we go! How do you all think I did with the examination for Team 7? At least the start of it? I deviated away from the bell test because that's what Obito's using for his team. Future!Naruto is going to train his genins hard, haha.

Anyway, some important stuff like the Cloud ninja coming and kidnapping Hinata still happened, but in an entirely different way. It'll appear in a flashback scene sometime later when it's brought up.

Now, for the numbers you all saw:

[1] I used Team Suien from the Naruto OVA "Mission: Protect the Waterfall Village!" They were missing-nins (and I watched it) from there so it seemed like a good idea to toss them in as antagonists once again. As you can see, I made future!Naruto remember them, even though it was from a movie.

[2] Killer B isn't the Jinchuriki of Gyuki isn't this story, so no worries! He's not dead, just not the supportive Eight-Tailed beast carrier. I'd never get rid of the lovable rapper! The previous guy who held the bijuu in question was captured. His name is Fukai, if I recall from watching episode #244.

[3] &amp; [4] The infamous Uchiha massacre still happened, but like the Hyuuga affair, it happened in a different way. (Of course, one reason we still see Obito, eh?) I'll leave it up to you guys to ponder on who the "him" Sasuke is referring to. (: At least, until the flashback for it happens.

[5] I'll let you all figure out who this is.

[6] Shibuki's ninjutsu he used in the aforementioned Naruto OVA. I gave it to future!Naruto because in the manga, he can use pretty much the main elements. Makes sense to use other 'borrowed' jutsu, at least for a while.

[7] Another stolen jutsu from another anime-filler character named Monju. Yaaay I love stealing them for other uses.

* = This particular line was inspired from the Dr. Seuss book Green Eggs and Ham. Ha-ha

And nope, no character bashing in here! I may not like Sakura much, but that doesn't mean I will bash her character. It's apart of character development and they will all get better eventually. Also, I am sort of creating my own version of Sasuke's personality. It's a mixture of his old, vengeful one with the personality he eventually gains in the manga when rejoining the Alliance and Team 7 again. I like to see him and Naruto as friends/rivals than anything else.

Until next time~


	7. Cantata

**AN:** Again, thanks for faves/reviews/follows, oh man. I died. Over 100 faves and adds?! I'm overwhelmed here! Ah, Gaara's story will come later because I'm going to timeskip in the next chapter so no worries. This one is short-ish, since it's a continuation of Chapter 6's cliffhanger. Enjoy!

* * *

Cantata

7

* * *

Menma chuckled lightly when the three of his students came after him, all at once. Their styles differed of course; Sasuke used taijutsu style of the Uchiha clan, Naruto's chaotic-like style—well, it was virtually his own—and Sakura with the Academy's style. After their ten minute break earlier, Menma had come back into Training Ground 8, noticing the three genin-to-be sitting in a huddled form, planning some sort of counterattack against him. When they noticed him, they all stood up with determination in their gaze. It was perfect. He playfully taunted them to come with the action of his hands, and it prompted them.

Good.

Sasuke fired off his Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu, this time in a stream of flames. While he did this, Sakura and Naruto charged for him, one coming from either side. Menma smirked and ducked under Sasuke's ninjutsu and blocked the kick and punch from the other two. Menma analyzed Sasuke's assault to be the distraction while his teammates ran up to him to attack. Hm, good planning so far. The pair drove powerful punches and kicks in their onslaught of taijutsu, being wary of when Menma opened his left palm's hand to trick them into hitting it. Sakura jumped back when it came for her and Naruto evaded using a quick Hiraishin.

Next thing he knew, Sasuke ran forward, completing their team attack with his own taijutsu skill. His dark eyes narrowed as he struck with great accuracy, even without the Sharingan. He, too, was observant and careful around the marked left hand when it came by. The team members regrouped and bounded back to assess their next phase, as Menma thought, and began to circle him. The older blond studied their positions as they kept circling around him, becoming a dark black, white and blue blur (Sasuke), a red, white and pink blur (Sakura), and an orange, black and yellow blur (Naruto). Of course, he could still see them, but to the naked or untrained eye, they looked like a rampant spin of colors all meshed together. It also didn't help that Naruto was actually using his bloodline to speed up the blurs, either.

Next thing that happened, the three had lunged towards him, kunai in their dominant hands and slashed forward. Menma whipped up his own kunai and made two Kage Bunshins to counter his other students, making three of him in total. His two clones went up against Sasuke and Naruto respectively while he himself was up against Sakura, who was slowly showing some form of improvement. Said improvement was the sincere focus in her green eyes. Menma internally grinned.

Another good thing.

During the one-on-ones, Sasuke and Naruto joined together and attempted to cut off one of the clone's attack though it was thwarted by the second clone. It forced them to separate again and engage in their respective, fierce match of punches and kicks. Menma wasn't going to use ninjutsu on them because even if he powered them down to a fraction, the jutsu would most likely wound his students severely. Yeah, he'd rather keep them alive and intact, thank you very much.

Before he could land a final blow on the trio, they backed up again a considerable distance, out of breath and somewhat slouched over each other. They were trying their best to remain standing. Menma would give them credit for keeping up this far. On the contrary of his earlier statement of going all out, he actually _was_ holding back by more than half his strength, just so they could last. That, and it was a lot more fun to torture them with this extreme workout of trading blows. Wait, he was going into his sadism again.

'_Damnit, Kurama._' the older blond grumbled half-heartedly.

"**Once again, not ****_my_**** fault."**

'_Uh-huh..._'

Menma kept his eyes on the three preteens, noticing that they were standing up a little straighter. He raised an eyebrow. Were they going to charge him again? That didn't work last time, if that was all they had planned up while he was gone. Suddenly, without warning, they dashed away into the trees again, from opposite sides. Menma blinked, a tad—just a _tad_—surprised. All right, he'll give them more credit; he wasn't expecting them to do that. "I admit, they got me on that one." He mumbled to himself, flexing out his senses to his genin. He picked up their signatures in half a minute's time. '_All right, Naruto is in the trees to my left, Sasuke's in the ones behind me, and Sakura's to the right. Which one should I go after first?_'

"**All of them."**

'_Now now, where's the fun in that?_'

"**It will be fun. Just to hunt them all at once. Hehe."**

'_Now you're just trying to have too much fun with this...huh?_'

Menma blinked again as his senses picked up multiple signatures of the genin floating around everywhere. He twitched his eye and was about to call impossible when something popped up in his head. '_I have a feeling of where this is going..._'

-x-

Naruto, when he had dashed into the trees, had made a Kage Bunshin to keep an eye on his cousin while he made two more. He made them henge into his two teammates perfectly, directing them to where Sasuke and Sakura were located, going according to the plan they made more than half an hour ago. '_Okay, step one, Sasuke launches his fire jutsu at nii-san and me and Sakura-chan tag team and bombard him with taijutsu. Check. Step two, knowing that won't work against him because of his stupid clones or something, we break up and head for the trees to hide in again. Check. Step three, I make two clones, henged as my teammates and wait for them to make another in their place before dispelling. Okay, gotta wait for that. Then step four, I make tons of Kage Bunshins henged as my teammates and start swarming them around nii-san. The real us will hide in the crowds of them, avoiding nii-san, and get him locked in with me and Sasuke's awesome combination jutsu. Then Sakura-chan ties him up while he's trying to counter it. Then we all hold him down. Yep, I remembered them all! ...Surprisingly._'

He waited as silently as he could for his two clones to reach his team. When they did, he noticed they created another clone of their solid henges before dispelling to let him know they were there. All right, it was time for phase four of their plan to start.

-x-

Sakura waited patiently for the Naruto-henged-as-her clone to arrive and when she did, she nodded as the signal for it to create another and then dispel.

"All right, here I go." the Sakura clone said in her own voice. She made the hand seal to replicate herself again before poofing away. This way, it would let Naruto know that the clone met up with her successfully.

"Boss knows now, so let's wait."

"Okay." Sakura replied, feeling a bit shaken. She had fought against their sensei all on her own. All on her own! She'd never felt so...excited? Alive? The pink-haired kunoichi didn't know what it was. But the smile on their teacher's face encouraged her to keep up her attacks, hoping that she'd land a hit on him somewhere in her flurry of punches and kicks. In the end, she didn't, but she wasn't about to give up. They had another plan after that one and now they were in phase four.

They didn't have much time on their hands, though. In fact, they had spent much of their hour fighting hand-to-hand with their sensei, they were most likely down to their last thirty or so minutes. She and the clone shared a look while they awaited the next step. '_It'll all come down to this..._'

-x-

Meanwhile with Sasuke, who was using this moment to conserve as much chakra as he could for the next and final phase of their plan. '_All right, soon Naruto's clone henged as me should arrive._' He thought, keeping his senses—as much as they could—extended. His dark eyes were watching their sensei as he seemed to wait there. '_Probably for us to come out._' The Uchiha took slow, deep breaths, never minding the beads of sweat rolling down from his forehead across his pale cheek. Another couple of seconds later, he picked up on something approaching and whipped out another of his kunai and turned to the intruder. His eyes widened when he almost stabbed...himself?

"Hey, calm down, it's just me." the Sasuke clone said in his own voice.

Sasuke sighed as he lowered his weapon. "...right. Thought you were..."

"Sensei? Yeah, I don't blame you." the clone replied in hushed tones. "Anyway, I'm going to create another me and then dispel to let the Boss know that we're all in formation." The real Uchiha nodded and watched as the clone made the hand seal to create another in its place before dispelling. The two Sasuke's peered out of the bushes to watch their sensei. He was still standing there in his spot, but now drumming his fingers against his arms.

Another second passed before the clone blinked and turned to the original of its henge. "Boss just made another clone and dispelled it. He said he was going to make more henged clones, according to the pre-plans you all made prior to the situation."

"Hn. Then it's time to get ready."

-x-

Naruto grinned deviously as he made the hand seal for the Taju Kage Bunshin jutsu. It was one of the techniques, forbidden ones of course, that his cousin taught him since he couldn't do the regular Bunshin jutsu in the academy. More than one thousand of himself popped into existence. The exertion of the chakra did make him pant a little harder, but it was nothing close to chakra exhaustion. He, his father and cousin had vast amounts of it for whatever reason. Genetics, he summed it up to himself.

"All right, one quarter of you henge into Sasuke, another quarter of you henge as Sakura-chan and the rest of you stay as you are. We're gonna swarm nii—I mean Menma-sensei and pull off the last phase of the plan." Naruto told his clones in hushed whispers. They all nodded and the two quarters henged into their respective teammate. The rest stayed as Naruto as told. "Okay, good. The Sakura-chan's go with Sakura-chan, and the Sasuke's go with Sasuke. And Naruto's, you'll stay with me. Now go!"

The clones all nodded and rushed off to the location of the original they henged as. After another minute, one Sakura clone and one Sasuke clone dispelled. Naruto smirked; it was time.

-x-

'_Okay, they used up twenty minutes and only have about eleven minutes left until time's up._' Menma thought, sensing the rapid chakra signatures shifting and moving around, making his head spin a bit. He was sure Naruto made more shadow clones, but now they shifted into what felt like Sasuke's and Sakura's signatures. Did he make his clones mask their chakra? '_I didn't teach the squirt that, I'm sure._' He hummed in thought. What were those genin of his up to? '_I actually have a bad feeling about this. It's only a matter of time until—_'

"EAT SHURIKEN!" cried Naruto's distracting voice. Menma turned around instinctively to intercept the thrown shuriken from his left—where Naruto had gone off to hide. He batted it away with his kunai but as soon as his blue eyes narrowed in the direction of whence it came, they suddenly widened in light shock. Hundreds of Naruto's were charging for him! '_All right, so the squirt still has enough to make more? Better not let him down!_' Menma waited for the Kage Bunshins of his small cousin to lunge and when they did, they all crowded over him in a wave of orange and yellow.

Menma kicked, punched and stabbed any clone that came near him. Even though he wasn't being too serious, the more that came at him with angered eyes, the more he closer he was. The older blond kept up a poker face through his onslaught of defeating Naruto's endless clone spawns. They kept up with him, because well, they technically were him. The erratic footwork and style was all his that he passed down to Naruto, and the boy appeared to have added another coin or two movements in from the original. One of the Naruto's got lucky and scraped his right pant leg, leaving a small tear into it. Menma chuckled. '_Little bastard got me._'

It wasn't long until the remaining five hundred or so—he wasn't really keeping count to be honest with himself—they let up and all had a smirk on their face. Menma wasn't going to ask because he didn't have time. Another shuriken came from behind him! Grunting, the jonin dodged it by sidestepping. Before he knew it, Sakura clones charged at him, all with that murderous, emerald gaze directed at him. '_All right, this is becoming interesting. Hadn't thought of this._' Menma admitted, getting ready to dodge, stab and fight back the wave of Sakura's.

As he was going through them, a little more easily than the Naruto clones, he thought, '_I think I get it now. They're trying to get me winded out so I won't be prepared for whatever they're planning. Or, unless, this was their final plan?_' He didn't forget to hold out his left palm for one of the clones to hit but they seemed too smart to fall for that and evaded hitting it. One got close but withdrew her—his?—hand before it got any closer. Just like before, one Sakura got lucky and managed to cut into his pant leg again, leaving another tiny rip. '_They're getting there. Even though I should have been able to dodge that, their precision is looking a bit better._' When he had demolished more than half of the hundreds of Sakura's, the remaining jumped back, also giving him a smirk just like the Naruto's. Menma frowned. '_Something tells me it's gonna be Sasuke's turn next._'

Just like that, a kunai flew by. Menma, having sensed it coming, caught it and then the onslaught dance resumed, this time with a flood of Sasuke clones. '_I'm not even winded yet but damn, this is some good strategy they came up with! If I had been any younger, like still sixteen, these runts would have put me up to a good fight. I'd probably be bordering on running out of breath by now. I commend them for getting this far._' The several Sasuke waves kept him up, and they managed to score a couple tears into his clothing before being devastated by the jonin. They backed up as well when they were down to the same or similar amount as the Sakura's and Naruto's. They all bore a smirk on their face and it didn't look very good. '_Okay, _now_ I'm wondering what they have up their sleeves. They're smirking too much for my liking. They have _something_ plotted out and I'm probably going to not like it._'

"**Something tells me the brats are going to use the Harem jutsu."**

'_…_'

"**...What?"**

'_It wouldn't have any effect on me anyway. I'm not a pervert unlike a certain Toad Sage, Hatake, Third Hokage and now a _fox_._'

Unknown to Menma, Jiraya, Kakashi and Hiruzen sneezed.

'_Besides, I didn't teach Naruto the Oiroke no Jutsu because he really doesn't need that now that Dad and I are here to get in contact with the man._'

"**True, but it would be an element of surprise if they did."**

'_I would fail them if they tried it._'

"**I wouldn't put it past Naruto though. Methinks that particular jutsu is embedded in his genes, too."**

'_Shush._'

"Get ready!" The Naruto's shouted. Menma was already on alert the second he ended his private conversation. Now it was time to see what the kids plotted behind his back. Almost too literally. With a battle cry, all the remaining clones shot forward to overwhelm him. Yes, all of them. All. Of. Them.

"Shit..." Menma swore as the oceanic wave of Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto clones launched themselves towards him. Even if he shunshin'd away, he'd probably fall into more of them somewhere else. Oh, Team 7 of this day was good. Really good. And they only had a couple hours to themselves. What had gone on while he was gone? Probably found some common ground with one another. But what else? What inspired them to jump into the fray with one another so quickly? Was it because they wanted to get to the lunches faster and figured out that teamwork was the only way to get to it? Possible, since Sasuke had figured it out when his other two teammates were knocked out and he claimed retreat. Menma flashed through hand seals and prepared the technique in mind. It'd blow them away again; literally.

After all, it wouldn't do to show off all of his reacquired jutsu and skills to them. Ah, no, they'd have to figure that out themselves.

"Fuuton: Daitoppa!" Menma pushed out half the chakra to fuel the technique. Like before, the mass of wind blew the clones away, making them all yell out and pop, one by one. His blue eyes scanned the mess of clones and couldn't see nor feel the real genin within them. '_What the...? Where'd they-?_'

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" Sasuke's voice.

"Fuuton: Nenten Kyoufuu no Jutsu! [1]" Naruto's voice.

Shit.

The flaming sphere came out of nowhere, powered by the torsion formed zephyr right behind it! The wind engulfed the flaming ball, which expanded it into a wall of wind-blasted fire. Yes, that's what it was. A flaming wall aiming right for him. Okay, no time to panic because he couldn't dodge it. It was coming after him like a homing attack!

'_Why'd I teach Naruto that technique..._'

"**Hm, I don't know... Because you ****_love_**** him?"** was Kurama's sarcastic reply.

'_You're not helping you know._'

Quickly, Menma flashed through the hand seals for the Mizu Tatsumaki again. Instead of forming it near him to act as a stand alone barrier, he created it around himself. He held the last hand seal in as the wave of flames collided with his own technique, creating the steamy fog once more with a smearing hiss sound. He'll give them another point for managing to push him back for half a centimeter with their combined attack. '_Okay, those runts have to be doing something else—huh?_' In the clouded dust, he saw a small flicker of a yellow-orange _flash _along with some other colors. Oh, he knew what that was, or rather, who it was. Suddenly, he felt six pairs of hands on his person. One bound his hands and arms with what seemed to be chakra wires and the other four were attempting to hold him in place using their own weight. A blink and a smile appeared on Menma's face. He realized what just happened. '_Ah...that's it. Naruto used his Hiraishin to bring his teammates over in the last second. That's why I couldn't detect them for a bit._'

The trio appeared to be using their remaining strength to keep the sixteen-year-old in place. Even as the steam cleared thanks to the natural wind, they stayed. Sasuke was clearly latched onto Menma's left leg and using his hands to keep Menma's hands in one place. Sakura was doing likewise though with their sensei's right leg. Naruto decided it would be cool to make another set of his clones and one latched onto his back, another on his head, another keeping his arms in place with his teammates and the original latched onto his chest. Noticing it with his own eyes, Menma couldn't help but let out a hearty chuckle.

"Hah! That was great!" He laughed, stirring the three preteens (plus clones) in surprise. "Looks like you all got me." And with that, the timer went off just a second later, signaling them that the test was over. "And just in time, too."

All three of them beamed in their own way; Sasuke smirked, Sakura smiled and Naruto flashed the inherited foxy grin. They eventually let their sensei go, Naruto dispelled his clones in the process. Menma broke out of the wires easily with minimal effort and grinned at his students. "Congratulations! You all pass and now officially Team 7! You all deserve to be ninja of Konoha if you were able to pull of that plan in such a short time."

Sakura blushed but nodded. "Thank you, sensei."

"Yeah! We're totally awesome!" Naruto fist pumped. "So, Menma-sensei! Can we have our lunch now? I'm starving!"

"And tired." Sasuke added.

"All right, all right. You deserve those, too. Wait a sec, okay?" Menma smiled happily and if one blinked, they'd have missed the older blond's very light skip in his step. He strolled towards the lunches within the seal and pressed his right hand into the glowing seal on his left's palm. The genins paled and eyes widened when they saw the glowing green dome that trapped their food explode!

"WHAT!? MENMA-SENSEI!" both Sakura and Naruto screamed in absolute horror. Sasuke glared daggers at their now-traitorous teacher. What the hell did he go and do that for? Now they would go hungry and they were really tired! Menma just laughed after the smoke cleared up. Now all three of them were shooting hateful glares his way.

"Guys, calm down. Your lunch didn't blow up." He laughed lightly, reducing it to a genuine but small smile. "I just released the seal, that's all."

The three suddenly released their glares and breathed a sigh of relief.

Menma picked up three of the lunches and handed each one a box. As if feeding the flames more wood, the preteens snatched their respective bento box, opened it and began eating. The older blond blinked and looked down at his hands and where the boxes had been. '_Jeez, they were fast. I could have sworn they used the shunshin or something._' Shrugging, Menma fetched his own lunch, opened it, sat next to his new team and ate along with them. Finally, he had Team 7 with him again and there was nothing in this world that would take them from him.

Menma silently observed them as they relaxed, ate and shared a couple of stories as well as any other topic that would come up. Sakura also apologized to Naruto for calling him a "baka" earlier even though he was knocked out. The younger blond forgave her and admitted that his 'tatic' at bull-charging ahead was stupid. That was good of them to make up like that. He didn't want any potential bad blood between them. Thinking on his own thoughts now, he could finally start their rigorous training. They'd become the strong shinobi they were of his time, perhaps even stronger. Today couldn't get any better.

Oh wait, yes it could.

Smirking then replacing it with a neutral expression, he said, "After you eat, stretch. Because now that you've passed, we'll start working on chakra control exercises and finding out your natural affinities!" He chanted excitedly. Because everyone knew he was enthusiastic for a lot of things, all others considered of course. The three genin looked at him with varying expressions of glee. "And then we'll move onto stamina training!" After hearing the last part, they groaned. They knew they would be aching and sore later on today.

"Menma-sensei? Isn't it...um, a little too early to be learning that?" Sakura asked.

"Is it?" Naruto wondered.

"..." Sasuke dotted.

Menma simply shook his head. "Nonsense. No such thing as 'a little too early'. You three will start right off the bat. My training sessions will always leave you tired no matter what so you'll have to deal with it. We will also work on teamwork through missions we collect from the Missions room. You three understand it now, so we'll keep at it. Also, starting tomorrow, you will all be here at 6:00 am sharp, no later, and we will begin our daily warm-ups. Each day, I will increase the amount you will do to push you to your limits. The chakra control exercises will increase every week to broaden your reserves. Once we complete those tasks will we start our collection of D-rank missions for character and teamwork building. I expect you three to be ready and prepared."

The three genin paled but nodded at their sensei's words.

"Once you all have it down, we'll start on elemental manipulation. But for now," Menma took the chakra paper he brought with him and handed one to them. "Channel chakra into these, but not a lot. They'll tell you what your affinity is. Fire, the paper will burn up and turn into ash so be careful. Lightning, it'll crinkle up. Water, it'll get soaked and soggy. Earth, it'll crumble up, and for Wind, it'll split in half. I don't have a lot of these, so don't waste them."

Sasuke placed his in his left palm, channeling just a little of chakra into it. The paper crinkled up then flared up and burned. He dropped the hot ash just as quickly as it happened. He looked up to see Menma smile at him. "Lightning and Fire. Looks like your affinities lie there, Sasuke. It's pretty rare for anyone to have two affinities at genin level." '_Figured that one out._'

"Ooh, my turn!" Sakura chirped excitedly, seeing that her precious Sasuke-kun was, as always, amazing. She channeled her chakra into her paper, and the results were satisfactory; the paper crumbled up. "I have Earth!" She jeered, turning to their sensei. Menma nodded and smiled at her as well.

"Good. You'll be able to learn defensive jutsu when we start training the chakra control training."

"Well, now it's my turn then. I know I have wind though like you and tou-san, Menma-sensei." Naruto said, doing the same and channeling chakra into his paper. It split in half, as predicted, and then surprisingly, it soaked. "Wow! I got two like Sasuke, too!" The blond beamed. Menma also shared a smile to his cousin but mentally thought, '_He has a second affinity in water? Then again, it must have inherited from Tobirama-san. Hm, shouldn't have been a surprise there._'

"Good, good all of you. Now that you know your elemental affinity, it'll be much easier to train when we start ninjutsu."

"I can't wait!" Naruto all but exclaimed excitedly, speaking for both of his teammates. They were all excited for that part. Really, who wouldn't become giddy to learn new techniques? The older blond chuckled. He knew he'd make them groan again when he reminded them of all the other training they'd have to endure through first before even attempting ninjutsu but decided to leave that information for tomorrow. Best to crush their hopes, for now, sooner than later.

"Well, enthusiastic will help, when we get to it. Now hurry up and finish your lunch and stretch because we still have much to do today."

"Hai, sensei!" Sakura and Naruto chanted in unison.

"Hn." said Sasuke.

Menma face-palmed. He _really_ needed to find a book on translating 'hn' now.

* * *

6:30 pm

* * *

It was well into the evening when Team 7 was finally dismissed. Sasuke lethargically shuffled to his apartment, having to drag his feet almost literally to get there. He was so tired, but felt accomplished in a way. Their insane sensei, who was none other than the Yondaime's nephew, tortured them with many training exercises. As promised, they did chakra control exercises, just like in the Academy, with the leaf. However, after they all managed to keep one leaf on, their sensei made them grab more leaves and stick them onto their bodies using their chakra. He made them hold twenty—TWENTY—leaves on their faces and arms and steady on ONE foot to balance. And if that hadn't been enough, he _made_ them run around, with those twenty leaves still attached, and pace at a speed for fifteen more laps around their training ground. This was for the so-called stamina training.

Towards the end, he had individually sparred with them, indirectly fixing the holes in their fighting styles and allowed them to figure out where their flaws were. It was, to say the least, interesting for Sasuke. He'd never been pushed so hard in training, not even when he trained with his brother or when his father—

The young Uchiha stopped that thought immediately and glared at the ground. He wasn't sure what to make of that man anymore. The one who overlooked him for his brother, thought he was a waste and couldn't ever compare nor match up to his brother. Just because he hadn't activated his Sharingan at an early age like his brother. It was unfair. Sasuke was too deep into his thoughts that he led himself subconsciously to his apartment. He didn't realize the door had opened without his doing and standing there was a familiar face.

"Hey there, kiddo. I hope you aren't brooding like usual."

Sasuke lifted his head and saw his chronically late cousin there before him. The preteen blinked for only a few seconds before it morphed into a scowl.

"You're actually _here_, Obito."

The man shrugged his shoulders and moved aside to let his little cousin inside. Once the tired boy was, he closed the door and locked it. "I can get here on time when I can..." He said, "besides, I just got here like five minutes ago after testing my team."

"Hn."

"Right," Obito replied as if he knew what that meant. "So, how was it? I bet your sensei's test was easy, hm? Or something..."

Sasuke glared daggers at him. "No. He is...in terms of speaking, a sadist."

Obito raised an eyebrow, frowning at the adjective used to describe the person. A sadist? Who was his little ikoto's sensei? Almost as if reading his mind, Sasuke explained a little more. "His name is Namikaze Menma." Ah, that explained it well, then. The older Uchiha nodded slowly in understanding before going into the kitchenette.

"Yeah, sensei's nephew is a bit...overkill with his own training and he was practically giddy when he was assigned to be a jonin sensei for genin," Obito chuckled a bit as he saw Sasuke drop onto the small couch in the small living quarters. "I'm sorry you're tacked on with him."

"Why wasn't I assigned to your team?" Sasuke asked.

Their equally dark eyes met for a few seconds. Obito shrugged again as he went around the sink to wash his hands. "Not really sure, to be honest. I asked Minato-sensei myself, but he didn't give me much of an answer. Only like, 'this is the way it should be' or something like that. I didn't bother prying the information out of him after that." He stopped to dry his hands and tilted his head. "Hey, you hungry?"

"Hn."

"I'll translate that as a 'yes' then. Anyway, squirt, go shower because you stink." The older Uchiha opened the fridge, taking out an assortment of ingredients needed for the particular meal he was going to make.

Sasuke's eyes twitched a little when the 'nickname' was used to address him but went ahead to go do as told. Not that he would listen to his usually carefree cousin but because he really did smell terrible. Before he left out of the living room, he asked, "Where's Shisui and Naori?"

"They'll be here probably in an hour. They've been helping the Hokage with that new training program for all the chunin and jonin to attend."

"And Itachi?"

Obito paused for half a second before resuming his task, which was cutting fresh tomatoes. "On a mission. Can't say what it is because I don't know what he does. ANBU missions are for Hokage-eyes only." Sasuke nodded, accepting the answer before leaving the room to shower.

-o-

Obito sighed as he crashed into his bed. It was well after 10:00 pm, specifically, 10:23 pm. After Sasuke fell asleep in his room, Shisui, minus Naori, arrived and delivered some semblance of good news. The new training program for the chunin and jonin to enter was well under way to being announced and integrated. He explained that Naori had gone to home to sleep and the plan the Hokage set it up so only twenty chunin and fifteen jonin entered a season's worth, then it would rotate and allow the next batch of chunin and jonin to enter while the last season's batch would be released. The training regimen planned out were extreme and if he had to guess, his former teacher was prepare them. For what, he didn't know, but he only hoped it wasn't another war. With the program, it would train the chunin to become jonin, or become jonin-level in regards to the three jutsu teachings: genjutsu, taijutsu and ninjutsu.

There was a similar program underway for the genin and academy students to undergo. Of course, the academy students would need guardian permission first. After that, their conversation seemed to drift to another topic...

-**Flashback no Jutsu**-

"Did your team pass?" Shisui asked, a bit randomly.

"Yeah, they did." Obito smiled, remembering the three kids assigned to him, his Team 8. "I tested them with the bell test. Just like Minato-sensei did with us, the previous Team 7. They fussed around a lot. An Inuzuka boy and his ninken, the Hyuuga heiress and the Aburame heir. Kiba, Hinata and Shino."

Shisui nodded, recognizing their names easily. "Handful, were they?"

Obito chuckled a little. "More than you think. But, they're all right. They managed to cooperate and work together. Kiba's really loud and arrogant, Hinata's shy as we all know her to be—no change there—and Shino... that boy is really quiet. Hardly makes a sound. I have a hard time understanding his dots."

"Ah, the Aburame silent language."

"Yeah. It's hard to decipher, I tell you!"

Shisui simply grinned, but only by a fraction. "It appears only a talented Uchiha can decipher the Aburame silent language. Sasuke managed to pick it up." Obito crossed his arms and pouted a bit. Every Uchiha, at least the ones remaining, could understand the dots but not him! He didn't get it!

"Ugh, you, Itachi, Naori and Sasuke are the only ones who can understand them. I wonder why I can't?"

Shisui shrugged. Obito scoffed. They stayed silent for awhile until a small laughter erupted between them. It had been a running joke between the Uchiha and the Aburame clans for some few years. At least, when the former had been active. When their clan had been killed, it was only a scant few of them left. Shisui, his sister Naori, Itachi and his brother Sasuke and their cousin, Obito. The latter had been out on a mission during the event, the brothers were there to witness the destruction themselves and the brother and sister duo had also bore witness to it. Shisui had nearly died then, and had told them he lost an eye. But, it puzzled him and the other surviving Uchiha, that Shisui's bloodied left socket, where his eye had been, was...healed. In fact, it almost looked like he had a transplant. That was the accepted story throughout the council. But Obito knew better and so did Itachi. They knew for a fact that an Uchiha getting an eye transplant to replace their own required a close, blood relative for it to not have any side effects or worse, death. And the only ones possible candidates were Shisui's parents and sister. ANBU had cleaned up the dead bodies that night; almost all the Uchiha eyes were ripped out or slashed to prevent further transplant use. It was...scary. Whoever was behind the massacre clearly were after the Uchiha eyes, perhaps to use them for something.

It was this, that prompted Obito to ask.

"Shisui. I have to ask you... and please be serious with me."

"It's about my eye, isn't it?"

The older Uchiha blinked as he stared at his cousin's best friend. He didn't have to weave around the question like he thought he would have to. The guy seemingly knew what he was about to ask. Shaking out of his light stupor, he nodded. "Yeah. How'd you know?"

Shisui gave him a deadpanned expression. "You're a bit of the nosy type, Obito. I knew you'd ask when the curiosity got the better of you. Eventually, though." Before the older could say anything else, Shisui held up his hand to stop him. "Don't say anything else, I'll tell you. I wanted to keep it a secret since the one who helped me didn't want anyone else but the Hokage to know. But considering your... _situation_, Obito... I think perhaps you may be able to relate."

He didn't miss a beat with the implication. "The bijuu, huh?"

"Yes. I am not so sure how to put this... but Hokage-sama's nephew has an interesting way of...utilizing his tenant's abilities." Shisui's expression shifted a little. It was in-between a frown and half a smile. Obito, however, frowned. This wasn't something he knew about. "He used it's chakra, I'm sure he did, to...heal my eye." The younger Uchiha shook his head, almost as if he were still trying to wrap his head around the whole idea. "His body changed into a...form, I suppose it can be said. And when he touched my chest with his right palm, everything became fresh and clear. Something happened, I'm not exactly sure how to describe it. But when he told me to open my left eye and I did, I could see through it again."

Obito hung on his every word, mouth slightly agape. "...H-how? Was it how the story is? A transplant? And if it was, then how did he do it so quickly? Is he really a medic-nin?"

Shisui shook his head. "No. He isn't a medic-nin, that I'm sure. It wasn't a transplant, either. I could _feel_ this was my original eye that had been taken from me. But... when he stopped channeling that chakra... he collapsed."

"But, every bijuu's chakra is corrosive—poisonous—to those who it comes in contact with except to their hosts!" Obito argued. He was still in shock and his thoughts were running rampant. "And why would _he_ collapse when it's you that should have?" He secretly wanted to know how Menma could have done that, too. It'd be great to channel the Gobi's chakra to heal his teammates and allies when out on missions. Especially if the medic-nin's were unavailable.

"It is, hm? But his wasn't like that. It felt like the fox's but...at the same time, it was his. I can't explain, Obito. But, I believe Menma-san healed me to the point where he reconstructed my lost eye."

-**End Flashback**-

Once their winded conversation was done, Shisui retired to his and Itachi's shared apartment, which was one door away from Obito's and Sasuke's. The chronically late Uchiha stayed where he was on his bed, his mind still running a thousand miles an hour, trying to figure out the puzzle that was his sensei's nephew. He had a couple of puzzle pieces about that kid still fresh from the couple of years he had known him. He was easy-going, easy to know and friendly, like his sensei. Sure, his odd appearance the night the Kyuubi was released and attacked Konoha was weird but the kid had a hand in it. Well, considering he IS the container for the fox now. But, a lot of things about the kid bothered him, and oddly enough, little Naruto-kun, too.

So, he organized, as best as he could, his many reasons together:

One, when he first met the baby, he had the aura of the fox around him. All right, he sort of shelved this one away because Naruto-kun had been taken near the battlefield to be used as the container. Minato-sensei had informed his team when he was ready to tell them. Obito knew through the council meeting a couple days after the attack.

Two, this sort of contracted the above. He could _still_ feel the aura of the fox around Naruto-kun. Obito thought it was because the baby's father was the former container and his nephew was the current one that he'd have it around him. No big deal, right?

Three, this was where he'd been stumped. As Naruto-kun grew older, Obito was sure he could feel the fox _inside_ of the kid. It just seemed really REALLY odd how that could be. Didn't Minato-sensei say Menma sacrificed himself and that he found a new sealing technique? So, why did it feel that Naruto had the fox sealed in him instead? This didn't make any sense. Not only that, he could sense that the fox wasn't acting up like when it was sealed in Minato-sensei. Back then, it was restless, disrespectful, and tried its best to takeover the jonin to no avail of course. It eventually settled down but only up to a point. However, the day he met Menma, Kokuo and he sensed the fox and to their surprise, the Kyuubi wasn't malicious as they were used to knowing him to be. It was extremely strange that it goes from pissed off angry to calm within the few days since its sealing. Yeah, really weird there.

Four, Menma's attitude was odd. Okay, the kid didn't have a bad attitude, but it was just...he was acting wary for a while when in the village. If his past was anything to go by, sure, he could understand it. But, it didn't seem to _fit_ in Obito's standards. Before the kid came to the village, he was the one receiving the odd glances and feeling uncomfortable within the village. It was after the situation during the Third Shinobi World War, when he became the jinchuuriki for the Gobi. But that...well, the kid seemed like he was _expecting_ to get looked at. And not in the most friendliest of ways, either.

Five, okay, this one was weird to Obito. Naruto and Menma, both looked identical to each other. He understood that siblings and first cousins could look alike. Heck, if he grew out his hair a little, he'd probably look somewhat like Sasuke. But, those two...They looked EXACTLY alike. From the way their spiky blond hair to their nose, to the shape of their eyes and those whisker marks! Obito first thought maybe those were genetic since they both had them but sensei didn't. Maybe he had them when he was younger but they grew out? Then he thought it was because of the Kyuubi's influence. Minato-sensei had the fox in him when Naruto was conceived so, _perhaps_ that could the reason why Naruto had his. But Menma? It could be the same, too. Perhaps a facial manifestation that the bastard fox was sealed in him. Still, it just _ate_ at him because he felt there was more going on than he liked.

Six, he was sure he could sense the presence of the fox when he was around the Namikaze Trio. That's practically the name the title they go by from the shinobi half of the village when all three of them are together, walking around or even training together. When Obito would tag along with them, Kokuo would get...tense or ruffled up. Obito wasn't sure why until he questioned the bijuu himself. He felt...three of the fox. One presence seemed diluted but still strong in Minato-sensei, given. He was the ex-host, so he SHOULD have some sort of leftover fragment of the Kyuubi. The powerful and prominent presence of the beast within Menma, another given. He's the current host. But what threw him off, because his earliest observations had flooded back to him, was that there was a faint but clearly hidden presence of the fox within Naruto. Kokuo clearly sensed it and the bijuu hasn't been wrong yet. But, it still was weird! How could the kid have it when Menma was the one who held it? It was mind boggling.

Seven, this was one that still crept him out. If he had known better, he'd have said Naruto was mimicking Menma whenever he did something, emotion wise. But no—that had to be wrong. The first time he 'discovered' this odd occurrence was when they were younger. Well, when Naruto was still a baby and Menma was a kid. When Menma got hurt or looked hurt, Naruto's face would change to echo that. If Menma was really hurt, mostly after a day of strenuous training, Naruto—when he was caring for the tyke—would be balling his eyes out. Obito didn't know what caused it then and had tried everything in the book to calm the brat down. After awhile, he'd pick up the patterns around them, mostly when they interacted. When Naruto laughed, Menma smiled. When Menma laughed, Naruto did the same. When Menma looked upset, so was Naruto. It looked like a game of Monkey see, monkey do! Then as he got older, Naruto would complain that his arms and legs hurt, as if he did so many jumping jacks when he clearly had been inside the house. Menma would come back at those times and look winded after training, in which said arms and legs on him would hurt if anyone touched them. In other words, really, really, REALLY strange.

Now last but not least...

Eight, Shisui admitted that it wasn't a transplant but _Menma_ healing him that restored his lost eye. How? How did Menma do that with the fox's chakra? Every bjiuu's chakra is deadly, like a toxin, to anyone except the host themselves. So, how did he purify the chakra to use it to heal? It wouldn't matter how much taint you took out of the corrosive energy, it'd still have a negative effect on non-Jinchuuriki. And he changed 'forms'? Was it the Tailed Beast Form? The chakra cloak one? Well, to be fair, Obito was sure that was the only 'form' he could think of. But this still didn't make any sense.

And his mind, still running through everything he knew of this, including the pair of young blond's seemingly shared appetite and exchange of emotions. Everything just seemed so...weird. He wanted to ask so badly, but didn't know who to ask at first. He could try Naruto but the boy would probably be clueless or ignorant of the whole situation. His sensei might know but it was probably some classified information. Maybe, maybe not. But, asking Menma might prove nothing. Might not answer the questions he had, the clues and the observations he made. It was all becoming so troublesome!

...Damn, he was turning into a Nara.

"**Perhaps instead of overloading your mind of the information, Obito, why not connect to them?"**

The Uchiha shook out of his thoughts to concentrate on the kind voice that spoke to him. '_Well, how can I? Er, we?_'

Kokuo seemed to have sighed then deadpanned. **"Did you already forget Tailed Beast Mindscape? Somewhere that we bijuu can connect to with one another? We can take our hosts with us. It is much stronger than the mindscapes of your ilk."**

'_Oh. I did forget. Heh, Minato-sensei triggered it the last time when we were all...gathered, I guess. So uh, can you do that?_'

"**Ne, I can. Just meditate like you normally do."**

Obito nodded and sat up on his bed, getting into the meditative position. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself, to straighten out his chaotic thoughts and smooth them out like paper. In an instant, it clicked and his body slumped forward a little.

-o-

"I told you this would happen!" a voice shouted rather angrily. Obito blinked when he found himself within a rather large, orange and black looking...room. Yes, he didn't really know what to call it but it was a room. One that spread out endlessly. He looked down and saw that he was sitting on something white. It took him a few more seconds to realize he was sitting atop Kokuo's head. '_Oh, right._' He remembered.

"See?! I knew he knew would—!"

"**Calm down, Naruto..."** rumbled what seemed to be the Kyuubi's voice. Wait a minute, _Naruto_? **"You're going to send yourself into a panic attack if you keep that up."**

"But I can't! _He's_ here and- and- I just... I know I'm freaking out here and not acting Hokage-like, but when people peak into my privacy, especially in _this_ kind of way—" Who's here? Hokage-like? What?! Obito shook himself out of his thoughts, looking down to see Kokuo's familiar blue eyes ringed with red that outlined them within the retina. What the heck was going on?

"**Now, this could have been prevented if you took Minato's advice and built up mental walls. But you seemed so ****_confident_**** that you'd remain anonymous."**

"You're right, I should've taken Dad's word about it. Ugh, this is gonna suck when he finds us..."

Okay, this is getting weird. Time to get some damn answers and _now_.

"ALL RIGHT WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!" Obito shouted, jumping off Kokuo's head and landing on the...floor. Whatever it was. His voice echoed throughout the joined mindscape, alerting his and the Gobi's presence was here. This triggered the sudden appearance of a teenager he easily recognized as Menma and the red-furred Kyuubi without its sealed cage. Yep, just out and about as free as it can be.

Wait a minute, back up.

Kyuubi without its sealed cage. Out and about as free as it can be.

Kyuubi without its seal. Out and about.

Without. Its. Seal.

_Shit_.

Obito's eye twitched as he suddenly felt very small and insignificant. What the hell was the fox doing WITHOUT its seal!? Did the brat break it or something? And why's it getting along with him? Shouldn't it be trying to kill the kid that became its jailor? Not even Minato-sensei let that beast out within this conjoined mindscape of theirs the last time they did this. What- What's going ON? Why does everything feel so much bigger than him now?

"...ito..."

The whole mindscape seemed to get larger than it already was.

"Ob...o"

Why was everything getting so hot all of a sudden? Was it possible to get hot in a mind?

"OBITO!"

"WHAAAAT?!" He shouted back, black eyes snapping to the only human being in the mindscape. The blond, Menma, was snapping his fingers in his face to get his attention. Well, now he has it. Wait, he was the one who started this. Now was his chance.

"You were spacing out there, you know."

"Y-yeah? Anyway... WHAT THE HELL IS THE KYUUBI DOING OUTSIDE ITS CAGE?!"

Menma blinked, then tilted his head. "Why? Is that a problem?"

"Of course it is! It's a being of chakra! Full of malice and hate! Why would you set it free? Now it's going to kill us both and send Gobi-san here packing to next Wednesday and back!" The Uchiha ranted, flailing his arms around erratically. Very un-Uchiha he was, but he always was the black sheep of the clan anyway.

"Because he's my most trusted partner and friend, that's why he's not in a cage." The blond answered seriously. Obito stared at him as if he had grown a second head. A partner? With a bijuu? Was that possible? But then again, Minato-sensei was able to somewhat forge some partnership with the Kyuubi when he was the host. Perhaps the same concept followed? Hm, he'll have to deal with that later and accept it as it is.

However, before Menma could get a chance to try and calm the Uchiha down, he reeled up on him again. "And you! You have a LOT of explaining to do!"

"Wha-? What do you mean?"

Obito shook his head, crossing his arms and glaring at the blond. "You should know what I'm talking about." Menma's facial expression didn't change. Hm, then he'd have to explain then, perhaps to 'jog' the teen's memory. "Okay, see look. When I get bored or curious, I tend to think. I normally wouldn't think because it's too bothersome. I'm an action guy, a do-it-now than think-about-it person, kind of like Naruto-kun and Kushina-neechan are." When he still didn't get much of a reaction, he continued. "I've noticed some...signs lately. Well, not signs, but mostly picked up on some stuff and it revolves around you and Naruto-kun's interactions and all that.

"See, the first time I met the kid, he was a baby. But the funny thing is, I sensed the Kyuubi's aura around him." Pause. Menma blinked but seemed to look a tad more aware of where this conversation was going. Good. He didn't want to go in unnecessary loops. "Then as the kid got older, Kokuo and I sensed the Kyuubi _in_ Naruto. Like, it was there but masked within his chakra, like a mist." When he saw the blond slightly shift in his stance, Obito's eyes narrowed. "Strange, right?"

"...Yeah? How can that be?" Menma asked, keeping his face as impassive as possible and resisting the urge to fidget. Damn it, damn it, damn it.

"Yeeeaaaah. How CAN that be, huh? I mean, seeing as you're the one carrying the fox, how is it that it can be in two places at once? Or rather, in three places at once?"

Menma internally paled but tried to go along with this. He didn't like where this going but perhaps he could stall it. "Three?"

"Yeah. See, Minato-sensei is the ex-host of the Kyuubi. It's really strange how he's still alive though, even to me. An extraction is what kills a jinchuuriki because the bijuu's chakra is mixing in with their own, basically becoming one in a way both physical and spiritual chakra. So that leaves with one of these questions: how did Minato-sensei live?" His dark eyes scanned the blond, looking for anything that would clue him in further that he hit a soft spot. Menma's expression hadn't changed again so he prodded further. "Sensei stated you saved his life in that meeting years ago, if you remember. But another question is, again, how?" Obito began pacing and when the Uchiha began to pace, it normally meant a couple of things.

One, they were upset.

Two, they were thinking.

Three, something caught their attention so much it made them curious.

Four, they were upset, thinking and pacing around their 'prey' like a hawk while interrogating them was the only way they could sate their curiosity.

All in all, it was a combination of all four when an Uchiha, specifically, Uchiha Obito, began pacing. He was circling around Menma slowly, observing the teenager that looked so much like his sensei. He could tell his words were most likely tearing through the blond despite his actions. Yes, he just needed to poke ahead, prod him, get him to _admit_ something from his observations. Another reaction would do him wonders right about now. "Another thing I've observed is how you and Naruto react to each other. Not in a negative light, mind you. When you smile or get happy, Naruto is the same way. When you're upset, he's upset. When you're hungry, he gets hungry. And you want to know what else is weird? It happens _viceversa_. So, unless you two somehow thought playing 'monkey see, monkey do' since he was a baby, I'd say something strange was going on."

Obito shook his head, snorting a bit when nothing happened. Hell, even the two bijuu present were oddly silent, most likely listening to the ongoing conversation. Well, one-sided conversation so far. But, he wasn't going to give up. "Also, this one puzzles me, too. You and Naruto-kun look really alike. At first, I thought it was because you, sensei and the kid were relatives, which I'm pretty sure is very true. But once again, how? How are you all related? The kid and you share extreme similarities. In fact, I'd call them the same facial appearance if I wasn't kidding myself. Same hairstyle, except yours leans more towards sensei's. Same shape of your eyes, though again, yours leans a little more towards sensei's. The shade of your skin complexions are oddly the same, I've noticed too. And the whisker marks!" Obito chuckled now, not darkly or menacingly in any way. Just a chuckle that he felt he was getting somewhere, putting all his puzzles together like a Nara. Well, all right, not _like_ them, but pretty close. "I think I understand Naruto's situation. Minato-sensei had the beast sealed inside him, so it was probably some chakra influence from the Kyuubi. Yours? I'd say that _maybe_ it was because of the fox being sealed into you that a physical manifestation occurred. I have one myself from Kokuo, although barely.

"That's not all, Menma. See, Shisui came over to my place tonight and we talked about the training program sensei was starting up to keep the chunin and jonin on pace. For what reason? I hope not war. Perhaps to keep us all in top shape. Who knows? I don't. He also told me that the night of the massacre, when he lost his left eye to an attacker, you changed into a form," here, Menma every so slightly stiffen, making Obito glare at him but refrain from calling him out, "and healed him. As in, you used the Kyuubi's chakra to reconstruct his lost eye. So, once again...how? How is this all possible? A bijuu's chakra is poisonous and dangerous to those non-Jinchuuriki. Sometimes, even to us that host the bijuu are affected by it, but most times were are immune. How could you purify the chakra enough to heal someone in such a way? Because as far as I know, there _isn't_ a way to do that. A bijuu's chakra, no matter how much is purified by your own chakra, is corrosive. It grants power at a price." Obito stops pacing and focuses his attention on the ever silent Kyuubi, who simply observes them with his crimson eyes. The Uchiha tore his gaze from the intimidating fox and glared at Menma again. "Last thing is the Kyuubi calling you 'Naruto'! That's just freaky because Naruto is a genin under your team! But now that I look at you, study you closely...your actions, your face and your voice from when you were small, all ring me to believe that, and this is the funny part because it's ridiculously crazy but I feel it somewhat confirms my suspicions, _you_ are Naruto, in some way or form from some future. Or some spy sent out to kill Minato-sensei and destroy Konoha."

Silence.

Not even a pin drop could counter it. Obito didn't say anything more, just kept his eyes on the impassive, blue gaze of the teenager in front of him. He crossed his arms across his chest, waiting for anything to happen. An acknowledgment, he dearly hoped, or that the teen before him was a VERY elaborate spy sent out to destroy Konoha, or maybe to deny the claim. Anything. Any reaction, just not the cold, icy gaze he was receiving now. The tension between them was high. A kunai couldn't cut through it if it tried. He was crazy to claim that this teenager was his sensei's son. That means he was implying the superstitious time-travel theory that nobody seemed to figure out. Or, that they called it was 'fictional' or 'unproven'. But, Obito was certain about this. He just needed this kid to admit it!

It seemed as if hours passed by as the silence continued on forever.

Until Menma closed his eyes.

"Damn, you're as bad as a Nara..." he said in a low voice, sighing heavily. Obito blinked, flabbergasted a little; okay, he was looking for admittance, but to what perspective?

"You're right, Obito."

"...Huh?"

"I said you're right."

A long pause grew between them before the older spoke again.

"I'm..._right_? Usually I'm never right because of Kakashi-teme... But right about what? That you're a spy!?"

Menma—Naruto—shook his head. "I'm not a spy. I am Naruto though, from another time. Uzumaki Naruto to be specific." Obito's mouth opened wide, agape. That theory, he was just throwing out there because he felt it could've been true. Maybe. Some instinct told him it was right. But to have it confirmed...?

"B-b-bu-but how? Why? I-is that true?"

Naruto sighed again. "I don't really know myself. At least, I don't know how. But, if you'll listen and not interrupt, I'll give you the condensed version of the whole thing since I don't want to confuse you anymore than you probably are."

"Okay... But this is creeping me out here. I wasn't expecting you to admit that. Are you sure you're not crazy? I mean, I hope _I'm_ not crazy."

"You're not. Neither of us are," Naruto smiled sadly. "Listen, Obito. I will say this first. I'm not actually from the future per se." The Uchiha's eyes widened a little. "I'm from a future of an alternate dimension that _could have_ been, if the people of this world had made the choices that mine did." When the older started looking confused even further, Naruto decided it was time to play the 'comparison' game like he did with his father. "Obito, tell me what happened during the mission at the Kannabi Bridge, or at least, before your team arrived there. Did anything happen there that made you and Kakashi clash?"

Obito blinked again. He knew about that—oh wait, future dude here talking. Swaying from his shaken thoughts, he replied, "Y-yeah... Rin-chan got taken by some Iwa-nin. They fled with her. I shouted that we had to save her, but Kakashi, the teme, said not to and that we had to continue the mission." He bowed his head, dropping his arms to his sides as he recalled the memory. "I was so angry at him that he didn't want to help save Rin. She was our medic, our friend. We exchanged words, an argument, until I was fed up with him and went my own way. I wanted to find her on my own because the bastard didn't.

"When I was close, some Iwa-nin cornered me and attacked. That's when the teme showed up and cut one down that had been behind me. Called me a crybaby but I was shocked that he came to help." Obito closed his eyes, trying to relax his shoulders. Of all memories, this one was somewhat bittersweet. "We fought the enemies around us, but Kakashi took a hit for me, ended up losing his left eye. I was distraught and worried about him. An Iwa-nin tried to kill me from behind again but my Sharingan unlocked and I was able to spot him and kill him. Everything through my eyes looked different. Everything seemed to slow down, enabling me to see the chakra flow of anything living within a certain radius. I was so happy it finally activated, but we still needed to save Rin. After Kakashi got himself together, we left and found the cave they were holding Rin. She was in a genjutsu and I dispelled it while Kakashi untied her..."

His eyes narrowed, fists clenched and teeth gritted. "...They came back...and used a ninjutsu that caused the cave to start collapsing upon us. Kakashi told us to run. We were almost there... almost out... but Kakashi got hit by a falling rock and he fell. There was no time... I went back for him. But when I did, I saw a large boulder coming for us, right above us. I didn't know what I was doing but I remember rolling back with Kakashi. The rock came upon us anyway...Kakashi's legs were still caught in the collision and so were my feet. We couldn't move because we were trapped inside the cave, but...we... we were _alive_. Rin was screaming for us, I tried to shout for her to go." Obito opened his eyes again, looking at Naruto, who stayed silent through the whole tale. "I thought I lost Kakashi. He wasn't... he didn't respond. I don't know what happened after that. But I know Minato-sensei came to our rescue. He said that he and Rin destroyed the bridge and got us to the hospital as soon as he could."

Naruto sponged in the older man's recount of the same mission and mentally placed it side by side with Kakashi-sensei's version. There was a difference in that tale, in both of them, and he found it. "Obito, I'm sorry you had to remember that, but there's a reason why I asked."

"...Why?"

"Because, Kakashi-sensei... from my time, er, world, your decision to roll away with Kakashi didn't happen. He told me you grabbed him, threw him towards the entrance and...the boulder, to put bluntly, flattened you." Obito flinched and cringed. Flattened? Crushed under it? Oh kami...

"You were crushed under it, and Kakashi-sensei couldn't help you because there were too many. It was then you gave him your left eye that still had the Sharingan active. A gift for him reaching jonin rank," Naruto finished sadly, frowning. "See, there are varying differences here and from my world. In mine, you were crushed. My mother was the Kyuubi jinchuuriki, not my father. Rin was captured and turned into the Sanbi's jinchuuriki, not you being captured and having the Gobi sealed into you." At this, Obito shifted but Naruto didn't see so he continued again. "In this world, I, this version of Naruto, wouldn't have become the Kyuubi jinchuuriki. No, my father would have stayed as the current host, or worse, that masked man would have killed him via the extraction, killed my mother, my infant self and unleashed the Kyuubi upon Konoha." He shook his head as his eyes met Obito's, "in other words, my interference, however you want to call it, allowed this world to live. Everyone that is alive is because I was forcibly pulled out of my time stream, I guess. I had died in my world, but something pulled my spirit out, along with Kurama."

"Kurama?" That sounded familiar. Where had he heard that from?

"**My name, mortal. And you shall remember it. I do not normally trust those with my name so easily."** the fox finally spoke up, having remained silent for a little. **"We tailed beasts have our true names, just as you fleshbags do. It is up to us who we entrust our true names to. Since you mentioned Kokuo's, it seemed plausible to allow you to use mine."**

At this, the white-tailed beast sighed. **"Ne, Kurama-nii. Does this mean you are from the same place as this boy?"**

A nod was his reply. The Gobi hummed a little in thought before another question popped up. **"If that's true, then what happened to the Kurama of this world?"**

"Oh, I can answer that," Naruto smiled a little. "In a nutshell, my dad, yes Minato, merged the other half of the Kyuubi that hadn't been taken out of him to recover his spiritual chakra that he lost from the partial extraction. That enabled him to live and continue. When it came to subduing the other half, the one that was causing havoc to Konoha, I used a sealing technique that would draw it into me, but I separated the Yang of my Kyuubi and placed him into Naruto of this time. So in a way, we have two Kyuubi, but to get technical, one and a half Kyuubi. Mine became complete, my dad merged with his and Naruto-kun has the Yang from my time sealed in him. I placed a [2] Fūin Shikakusu, a personal seal of mine, over the Hakke no Fuin Shiki. That keeps the bijuu within Naruto hidden, masked beneath his own to prevent being detected. Only other Jinchuuriki can detect the Kyuubi in him, which is...why you could."

"...So, your Kyuubi absorbed the other Kyuubi half?" Obito asked and was granted a nod. Huh, well, the bijuu were chakra monsters. It seems fitting they'd just absorb one another if they were the same being. The Uchiha sponged the information, everything apparently falling into place. Things were starting to make sense now. His headache was getting to him and now that he had the apparent trust of a relatively _nicer_ Kyuubi to have his name. Well, it couldn't get any better, right? "Wait, um...Naruto? Why would you seal the other Kyuubi into Naruto? ...Kami, that's confusing."

"Hah, I know. But my dad was going to kill himself to seal it because he probably felt he wasn't going to live much longer even after having the other half merge with him to keep him going. I couldn't let him. And, an idea came to us, Kurama and I. Because of that masked man, we felt it better to prepare this Naruto for the dangers that were to come later."

Obito lightly paled, eyes darting to the blond teen. "...I'm sort of sweating here but what dangers?"

Naruto stared at the Uchiha, the one that differed from the maniac that had been obsessed with Uchiha Madara's plans. This Obito was not a pawn in that madman's insanity, so he would spare him of the details regarding that. He didn't know how he'd handle it now. So, best let him know of everything else. "The man that attacked my dad, he resembled a masked man that attacked Konoha in my time as well. An orange, swirl mask on his face. A dark cloak with clouds as their design. In my time, they were known as the Akatsuki."

"...Impossible. The Akatsuki are a peace organization! Heck, their leader became the Amekage and Amegakure is flourishing!" Obito shot back, forgetting momentarily that Naruto was speaking of another Akatsuki.

"That's true. They _were_ a group aiming for peace. But where I come from, that was cut short by a man named Hanzo, who was supported by Shimura Danzo—yes, that bastard," Naruto added when he saw the scowl on Obito's face, "betrayed them and killed many in the ambush, including the leader, Yahiko. That drove his friend, Nagato, into hating Konoha and wanting to make peace in a different, but twisted way by capturing the nine tailed beasts and reviving the Gedo Mazo. It's a long story from there...sorry. But, there's a group just like them, aiming to gather the bijuu. I don't know how many they have now, but we're going to be eventual targets soon, including a friend of mine in Suna, and little Naruto, too."

"**Gedo Mazo... That's the... ne! Th-the Juubi?"** Kokuo wondered aloud to himself. He shot a worried look to Kurama, who growled at the name but acknowledged his fellow bijuu. The white beast shuddered. Obito noticed and frowned.

"What is it?" He asked curiously.

"I'll...tell you another time, Obito. But, the point is...do you believe me?" Naruto asked, a tad bit warily. He wanted to have more allies in this whole dimension-hopping business and if Obito believed him, it would be a boon. He could help his fellow jinchuuriki in unlocking the other bijuu modes for him, helping him become powerful. They'd have more of an edge in whatever this other organization was coming. He needed to prepare Konoha for this upcoming menace and this time, he would _not_ lose anymore loved ones. Granted, they weren't _his_, but he couldn't say he didn't grow up with them and not care. No; he made more precious people, more friends in this time. He could prevent a similar tragedy from hitting them like it happened in his time. No more pointless deaths. Kaguya's trust still ran through him; he would uphold it here as well.

Obito stared at the teenager in front of him. This semi-future Naruto who had no control over his involvement in this...world, he would say. He was pulled out and placed here for a reason. Was it only to help their Konoha from being laid to waste by the Kyuubi? And if that happened, that man would have taken the Kyuubi and easily wipe out the rest of the nations and capture the other bijuu without so much as blinking. He could have—would have—done it and nobody would be strong enough to stop him and his organization from doing whatever the hell they were planning. There was no way he could deny this Naruto. He didn't seem like the type to weave lies, especially when cornered like a mouse. Also, the way Kurama was behaving also meant that he was telling the truth.

Yup.

"I...even though it still is a shock to my system, I believe you, Naruto. I can't deny the facts, especially when the furball standing behind you is so...calm." the Uchiha smiled. Kurama snorted but said nothing and Naruto smiled back. There. He had another ally. His father and Tsunade were the only ones who knew. Now that Obito knew, he'd have to get his father to summon Sarutobi-jiji to the tower so he could relay the story to him, too. It would be better if there were two of them there that supported and believed his really weird story. Hell, when he recounted it to himself, it didn't feel real sometimes. Hm, he really missed his grandfather figure.

"Thank you, Obito. It really means a lot to me."

"Hah, no problem. I'm glad I cornered you. Because you'd probably not have told me on your own accord!"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "You're right. I wouldn't have."

"Heh... Oh hey! There's one other thing I want to know!"

"And that is?"

"What's this form Shisui was talking about? Like how you healed his eye? How'd you do that with the Kyuu—erm, Kurama's chakra? Isn't it like dangerous to use on people that aren't...like 'us'? I mean, the tailed beast forms are cloaked in red chakra for goodness sake. Touching it is bad news."

"Ah, I know what you mean. And no, I was in a different form. One called the Rikudo Senjutsu." At Kokuo's sharp intake, Naruto went ahead and activated it. They were in the mindscape, after all. It wouldn't really use up any energy in here because, well, the mind is endless. As he flickered into the new transformation, Obito and Kokuo were gaping in awe at the sheer power that emanated like waves from the teenager. The latter was instantly reminded of the old Sage and glanced at his fellow bijuu. Kurama simply smirked.

"Whoa! That's...just whoa. How is that achieved? I mean, I can do that too, right?"

"Something similar, Obito." Naruto deactivated the form and returned to normal. "That ability was granted to me by Hagoromo-dono, who I'll tell you about more later. My Yang abilities allow me to heal and restore lost chakra to those I touch with my right palm." He held up the hand to reveal a sun-shaped tattoo in the center of it. "There is a state you can reach if you and Kokuo find a trust in each other and open up a chakra link. When that happens...well, you'll see." The blond smirked, leaving out the end cryptically.

"Huh, I thought so. Minato-sensei was able to do something like that with Kurama when he was still the host. I remember now. I wish I could do that. I dunno how much Kokuo trusts me..." Obito turned to the aforementioned chakra monster who stared back. "But, no matter what, I'll get you to see me as not only your jailor, but perhaps...as a friend someday. That's my aim. I want to reach that state Minato-sensei showed me before. It'll be badge, a symbol, a medal of our combined achievement. It'll tell others that we trust one another and are strong together."

At this, Kokuo offered a polite bow and smile of sorts. **"Ne, Obito. I've already known that. I must have been rubbed off on by Kurama-nii's stubbornness..."** Said other bijuu snorted, **"There is a...something between us. Acquaintance, perhaps. We have been together for some time. While it was not your choice to become my host, and you have not misused my powers for wrongdoing... hmm... I'll think on it. I will allow you to use more of my chakra now when it's needed, perhaps a 50% will suffice?" **

"Yeah. The seal keeps you from going further than that, doesn't it?"

"**Hmmm... Only 80% of my chakra cannot cross over or it'll be catastrophe, sorry."**

"No need to apologize. It's how sensei redesigned our seal." Obito turned to Naruto and grinned. "Well, this was all eventful and all but I think it's best if we retire for the night. It's going to be hard to not call you 'Naruto' now that I know."

Naruto chuckled a bit. "I know. But please keep referring to me as 'Menma', at least when we're everywhere. I don't mind if you call me 'Naruto' when we're speaking in here or in private with other trusted persons. Said persons include my dad and Tsunade-baachan. That's the name I chose to go by here. I'll never forget my birthname but I won't take it from the mini-me here. It's all he has other than our dad."

"Rig—wait, you call Tsunade-sama 'baachan'?!"

"Yup."

"And she doesn't hit you for that?"

"Uh, she used to. Both here and in my time, but she got used to it. Both times."

Obito's face twitched. Half was his eyes twitching and the other because his lips dared to burst out in a laugh. However, he kept composure instead. "Oh... Damn, that's confusing! I'm surprised you haven't created a paradox or anything. Like, won't you disappear because you don't belong in this time?"

"Normally, that'd be true. But since my...timely interference, it allowed the Naruto of this time to live where he'd probably have died had I not come. This world had to compensate for me being here. I was reduced to a five-year-old body because my physical chakra—and I'm just guessing here—was probably too high for it to hold, not to mention Kurama being dragged with me. The balance was way off since there were two Kyuubi in the same location for awhile. But, Naruto of this time isn't living the same life as I had. The time paradox doesn't affect me, I guess, since we're not really the same person. We have the same parents and same spirit, but our lives heavily differ."

"...Oh. I uh, guess that makes sense, too."

"**Good. Now if you hairless monkeys are done chatting away, I'm going to sleep."** Kurama huffed and seemingly 'left' the mindscape. Naruto shook his head at the grumpy fox and clapped a hand onto Obito's shoulder.

"Hey, if we can arrange it, I'll help you and Kokuo into a... I guess it'd be called a Five-Tailed Chakra Form. Anyways, I know you two will finally find some common ground. Kokuo doesn't seem like the type to hold a grudge or anything. He's way too polite, going off from meeting him here and from my time." The blond shot a look and grin at the now embarrassed white beast behind Obito.

"Thanks, I'd appreciate it. Anyway, go ahead and go to sleep. I know you're going to be drilling your team into your insane-almost-Maito-Gai-worthy training regimen."

Naruto chuckled, a tad bit too darkly for Obito's liking. "Oh... Don't worry. It'll be more than satisfactory in Gai's eyes. Haha." The Uchiha shivered under the teen's gaze. He was glad he wasn't in his team. He'd probably kill him with his intense training. As Naruto started to leave, he paused a bit, looking over his shoulder. "Oh, don't worry. Everyone shinobi in the village is going to get a taste of my...or rather Kurama and I's, ingenious, hell training."

Obito's eyes widened. "What do you mean all the shinobi...wait..." His mind started putting those pieces together. He visibly paled, again and he had a look of shock. Like if someone just kicked his dog and laughed. "Oh kami no. NO! Y-you're the one...! Minato-sensei's training program...!" All he got as a reply was the older Naruto's (evil) cackle and he was gone. No, no, no! "He's _insane_! I've seen him train a few times before but... Damn it! Now there's no escaping! Maybe I should ask sensei if he could send me on missions or something... Wait. I have a genin team to train up. DAMN IT! Sensei cornered me! He probably knew I would try to excuse myself out of it!"

Such is the life of Uchiha Obito.

At the Namikaze estate, Minato sneezed in his sleep but had a proud, suspiciously evil, grin on his face as he slept peacefully. He couldn't wait to tell his chunin and jonin of his plans about the new training regimen that would be established within the week. '_I've to thank my older Naruto for that idea. It'll whip up those ninja into shape._'

* * *

**AN:** Done.

[1] Fuuton: Nenten Kyoufuu no Jutsu: Wind Style: Twisting Gale Technique. (If you want to be literal here) It's a fake jutsu I made up. Don't bother looking it up, I'm certain it doesn't exist. *looks around to make sure no Naruto video games have it* Anyone knows Pokemon, imagine it like the move Hurricane but more like the move Twister.

[2] Fūin Shikakusu – To Seal Up and Conceal. Aka another made up jutsu/seal thing. Ha. I dub it "Seal of Conceal" -bricked-

Anyway, I didn't mean to keep this chapter as a hostage. I have online classes and IRL things to handle. The last couple of weeks of rapid uploads was due to the fact the semester hadn't started and I wanted to flush out as many chapters as I could.

I hope you all won't get mad at me for starting a few new Naruto stories while this one's going on. One will be a one-shot crossover (as a test) and the other two (one of them is still in pending, development stages) are more AU's. The last one is more or less one-shot collections with hardly a plot. More like those "I want to write it just because" fics. Be on the lookout for that one; it'll be called _Tied Together_.

Oh, and I realized this great equation! Sasuke plus Naruto equals Obito. Fusion dance! Ha. -shot-

Until next time~


	8. Being Rewritten

Hello my readers and all, I apologize for the lack of updating. I don't know how else to address over the hundred of you that added this story (and myself) to your favorites. Don't worry, I'm **not** abandoning this fic. I'm actually going to rewrite it and refine it, under a new name, etc. There were, unfortunately, too many loopholes in my opinion, and everything wasn't explained correctly. I feel I can do much better and that's what I intend to do. I do thank everyone for the nice reviews and am really, really grateful for all the kind adds/faves/etc., too. It really brought joy to my heart and made me happy and inspired to continue this. The new title will be titled "Uchū no Hanten" so please be on the lookout for it! Thank you very much for all the support and faves!

\- Galdr


End file.
